Hermes' mission of messages
by Cabin11EruditeOfDistrict3
Summary: Hi! I'm new to writing stories for others to read. While Leo, Jason and Piper are on an unknown quest, 4 new demigods would arrive at CHB. Nyssa would be included as I just want her to be part of this. I'm doing alot of research to make it sound fair. I made up some places though (cuz fictions usually about the author's imagination). Please give reviews and thnx for reading :)
1. Chapter 1

Hermes' mission of messages

Chapter 1- A normal day

Jake

The bell rang at WernerVille High School, Springfield, Illinois. Louise and George stepped out of their classroom. Lucy and Jake walked out of their class, which was opposite Louise's and George's. Louise started a conversation between them.

"Hey guys! Morning! Another typical Monday morning!" she said, sounding a bit like she was complaining.

"What date is it today?" Jake asked. He never felt _very_ energetic on Mondays.

"Um… Jake… you have to know!" Lucy snapped. "Uh, today is May 7th. Were you half asleep, SleepyHead?" She knocked on his head, as if she literally wanted to say "YO! JACOB! WAKE UP! OR ELSE I'M GONNA TAKE YOU TO THE HEADTEACHER. YOU KNOW I HAVE THE GUTS TO DO THAT!"

"What?" Jake moaned sleepily "Not _my fault_ if my brain just wanna stay closed on Monday!"

Lucy wanted to reply back but George finally said, "_Guys! Stop_! We have Math in the next few minutes and didn't even bothered to open our lockers!" He left the group, heading towards his locker. The others followed him.

Jake, George and Louise headed to a line of lockers on the left. Lucy walked over to the right. George opened his locker. It looked neat. Actually _surprisingly_ neat. Usually if anyone promises that they would keep their locker clean, after a few weeks or even a few days, it would end up looking like a dumpster. But George kept it clean, maybe because he is kind of like an Obsessive Compulsive. He always clean it, no matter how much time there is left before his first class starts.

Jake is the complete opposite of George. His locker definitely looked like a _dumster_. Books thrown everywhere, landing in different directions. His books were kept in a very bad quality. Most of his books were torn and scribbled on. Pencils were snapped into half . And it even _smelled_ like a dumpster. Jake just throws his gym clothes in his locker, and perhaps never bothered to take it out for a wash. Louise and George always had to hold their noses, trying not to breath in the odour.

Jake glanced over Louise. He thinks of Louise as a friend, or course, but a small part of him still has a secret crush on Louise. Jake never like the '_Girlie_' girl type. He like girls who were a little on the 'Boyish' side, someone who he can play sports with and talk about boy stuff. Louise was that type of girl. He almost told her that he liked her when he was 7, but he thought it would sound very awkward, especially as he was still 7. Now he's 15, he still thinks he would embarrass himself.

Louise's locker is plain normal, a typical girl's locker. She has pictures of One Direction, her favourite band. She also has a box of extra school supplies. Her books were neatly organized by subject. Her gym clothes were hanging on the side of her locker. She even sneaked in her headphones and IPod in her locker, though she almost got it suspended by the Headteacher a week ago.

Lucy's locker is very similar to Louise's locker too but it is a little more girlified. It smells like her favourite flowery perfume and also has her own miniature jewelry box in her locker, along with a mirror. Lucy checked her face before taking out her math books. Jake could hear her muttering to herself "_You look great today, Lucy! Now a little dash of lip gloss_" she applies a coat of lip gloss on her lips "_And off we go to Math class_." She slammed her locker.

As four of them walked along the corridor, they passed by the janitor's closet. The four of them never usually mind that room, but they could see some kind of a flashing light glaring through the door. They all exchanged anxious and confused looks and went closer to the door. Jake's hands were sweating. He asked "What do you think might be at the back of this door?"

"I don't know but I wanna know" George said.

"C'mon! let's open this door together! " Louise ordered. "Let's put our hands on the knob" They all positioned their hands on the door knob. "Let's open it on the count of three. 1,2,3…"


	2. Chapter 2

Hermes' mission of messages

Chapter 2-An unexpected landing

George

The door opened easily, but as it opened, a blinding flash shone from the janitor's closet. _This is truly extraordinary_, George thought. But as soon as he finished his sentence, some kind of a force was pulling them inside the room. There was a sound which sounded like a whirlpool. There was also another peculiar sound, maybe it was Jake sneezing. It sounded really awkward when both sounds were combined. The whirlpool didn't just _sound_ real, it felt real too. George tried opening his eyes, but the strong wind just made his eyes shut. It wasn't after a few couple of minutes till they saw _exactly _where this whirlpool was taking them.

George opened his eyes and saw a site which looked like some kind of a camp. Kids, mostly teens, were rushing around. Some were busy with some tasks, some were just goofing around (pranks maybe?) and some just sat around on the scattered benches, looking bored. He also noticed that there were also different humans… well _half-human, half-animal _creatures roaming around the camp. He realized that there were some buildings or _cabins_ as what he heard from two girls who passed by the four of them.

George forgot that Jake, Louise and Lucy were with him. He took a glance at the others and they exchanged back confused looks. Jake broke the silence and asked, "Um… guys… is this supposed to be some kind of a summer camp? I mean it's just May 7 and we're in a summer camp? Sweeet!"

Louise reminded him "Jake, school's not finished yet…" She turned to George and asked, "George, do you know where we are?"

George was about to answer but a girl approached them. She looked kinda tough, as if she was born to fight or something. She yelled back at another kid and said "Can you tell the others to continue with their duties?Jason, Piper and Leo must be far already! And could you tell them to stop gawping at the sky? It just looks stupid!". The kid nodded nervously and ran away quickly towards the camp.

The girl introduced herself "My name's Clarisse La Rue. I think you guys are the new demigods that Rachel must have predicted to come." She stretches out her hand which the four shook nervously. _Demigods?_ That word echoed in George's mind and he asked politely, trying not to get hit or attacked by Clarisse "Clarisse, I know this might sound dumb, but why did you call us _demigods?_ Is that considered to be an insult?"

Clarisse laughed which sounded like a small thunder. She was practically having tears of laughter "Um… no, that's not an insult." She tried not to break the sentence just to sound polite. "You guys, me and all these other kids you see down there in this camp are all demigods. Demigods are half-god and half-mortal. Meaning to say, one of your parents are a Greek god or goddess, if it's a lady, and your other parent is a mortal. For example, I'm a child of Ares, the god of war. Well, you could ask more questions later. C'mon! let's visit Camp Half-blood"

The camp looks even better up close. He also realized that all the cabins, _twenty cabins in total_, he guessed, were shaped in a Greek symbol called the _Omega. _There were more kids too, rushing from one place to another. Several of them were still in a group, in the middle of Camp Half Blood and were still gossiping about those three demigods who went to their quest.

Clarisse spoke up "Here in Camp Half-Blood, there are twenty cabins. Twelve cabins for the twelve major gods of Olympus and the rest are just the minor gods. Your godly parent would claim you so you would know who is in which cabin."

As soon as she said the last word, some kind of a transformation is happening to Lucy. There was some kind of a red glow flashing around her. "She's getting claimed like Piper", muttered a kid nearby. Lucy was _certainly _getting claimed. She was turning beautiful. Well, George did consider her the prettiest in their group of four. But this was in a different way. Her shoulder-length straight hair with sky blue dye on the tips (she was doing a little _experiment_) turned into a short, neck-length, wavy hair with even better _real_ highlights, pink and blue. Her clothes were also transformed into something else. She wore a loose dress, with gold trimmings and sequins on the bottom of the dress, which was up to her ankle. On her feet were beautiful gold sandals (same shade as the trimmings on her dress) with beads. Lucy's makeup was done perfectly as if an invisible professional makeup artist came and did it to her. She looked really happy and a couple of girls came near her and they started admiring all the changes Aphrodite did to her.

A centaur came to where George, Jake, Louise, Lucy, Clarisse and a bunch of other demigods were standing. George guessed that his name was Chiron as some demigods surrounding them were whispering his name. He stepped forward to Lucy and everyone stepped back. His voice boomed, " Lucy Parkinson, I declare you a daughter of Aphrodite, Lady of the Doves, Goddess of Love and Beauty". Everyone whispered and stared at Lucy. George could see she was blushing with almost everyone in camp staring at her. Chiron then whispered to Lucy, "Oh, yes! Your cabin is cabin number 10" He pointed to a side of Camp Half Blood. Lucy's expression change. Her face looked like someone said that she was put in a foster home. Lucy finally spoke up, "Um… guys… I guess I gotta keep going." George kept his hand on her shoulder, "We would be seeing each other around camp anyway". "Ok please." Jake said, "Let's not make this emotional. Lucy, just enjoy and make friends with your half-siblings. So, bye. Hopefully we would see each other" Lucy gave a simple smile and walked to her respected cabin.

Louise said, "So, Clarisse, are all claiming or whatever you call them same as what happened to Lucy?" Clarisse snorted, "Well, not exactly. That only happens for children of Aphrodite, whether you like it or not. The other recent kid of Aphrodite, Piper, the one who went on the quest, she also had a similar transformation at campfire yesterday. She looked really embarrassed, could see that she hated her beautification and the attention. But your friend must have liked her appearance." Louise agreed, "Yeah, she kinda enjoys those kind of stuff. Typical girly girl". Clarisse cleared her throat, "Ok, so let me show you around before dark.

_**Author's note: Thanks for reading **__** Please give this story a review. Like what I must have mentioned in this story's summary, I'm new to this writing long stories and publishing it. So, any feedbacks, just review. Thanks again :D**_


	3. Chapter 3

Hermes' mission of messages

Chapter 3-Everyone's claimed

Louise

Louise was a child of Hermes. She just discovered it a while ago. She got claimed at the campfire. When everyone was finished settling down, Louise felt something peculiar happening to her. She stood up quietly to check her appearance. She felt something tickling near her ankles. Something was glowing near her hair. _A bright, pale yellow light. _Louise felt lots of eyes around her. She knew she was getting claimed. This incident made her think about how Lucy reacted to her claiming earlier.

_But,_ Louise looked down at her feet, _Winged sandals?_ She pondered. She studied Greek mythology before in school and she studied about the gods but she doesn't remember any god who symbolizes winged sandals. But she didn't feel comfortable with sandals though, and the sandals automatically changed to navy blue high-top sneakers (with wings, of course). The crowd of demigods gazed at the transformation. Louise noticed at the corner of her eye, Chiron, the centaur she saw earlier, stroking his beard in a curious way. He wheeled over to Louise in his wheelchair. Then, he made a gesture to the demigods to stop the noise.

His voice boomed, "I declare Louise McKinley a daughter of Hermes, messenger of the gods, god of travelers and thieves."

Everyone made _ooohh _and _ahhhh_ noises and a few even clapped (though Louise didn't find it necessary). Some demigods Louise barely knew came up to where she was standing and started giving her back pumps and high fives. Chiron gave those demigods a look which must have meant, _Go back to your place or else you have to clean your cabin by yourself. _He whispered to Louise, "Louise, your cabin is cabin number 11." And he pointed to a rather worn out cabin.

Louise shrugged. She sat down where she was sitting. She must have guessed who her half siblings are. _The pranksters_. She wasn't ready to meet her siblings yet. They might be more experienced, even the ones younger than her. Louise had that same feeling as she had on her first day in school, scared and nervous. She decided to stay put and mingle later.

Chiron cleared his throat and started speaking, "So, this-"

Another flash gleamed, some kind of a red flash. It came from where George was settled. George looked startled and curious at the same time. _He was being claimed, _Louise guessed. She looked at George, who was now blushing and looking down at his clothes. Louise guessed why. His normal clothes changed into some combat wear. He was now armed with a shield and a spear. Louise knew who his godly parent was. _Ares. _

Louise's guess was correct. Chiron went near George and announced, "Fellow demigods, I declare George Gonzalez a son of Ares, god of war". George looked surprised. The centaur whispered(which was loud enough for Louise to hear) to George, "Your cabin is Cabin number 5" and pointed to a badly decorated cabin. George gave an unpleased look, seeing as he's an obsessive compulsive. Chiron even offered to usher George to where his half siblings were mostly sitting. Without thinking twice, George followed him. Louise understood his gloomy reaction. He was a smart kid but now realizing that his dad is all about war, George had to now fit in with his stubborn looking siblings.

George looked over to where Jake is sitting and gave him a look as if to mean, _let's swap places!_. Jake shrugged. Louise noticed that silent conversation and understood what they meant.

Earlier when Jake, Louise and George were exploring Camp HalfBlood with Clarisse, something happened to him. When Clarisse tried _politely_ (Louise still thinks she has some anger issues to work with) to explain about the Athena cabin. "Alright kiddos", Clarisse said in her rough voice, "this is cabin number 6. You guys gotta remember okay?" She spitted right infront of Louise. Louise tried to be kind and when she turned away, she took out her handkerchief and rubbed it fiercely across her face. The other three demigods nodded and started to walk away.

Something happened to Jake at the time they were walking away. Jake had a symbol of an owl on top of his head, glowing grey. His clothes changed into a toga, something like what the Romans might have wore. Louise scratched her head, thinking whether the toga was supposed to be Greek or Roman. The toga looked a little baggy so Jake had to hold up part of the toga even though he was wearing the official Camp HalfBlood orange t-shirt and some jeans under this toga. Louise and George both giggled at what Jake was doing. Clarisse even laughed a bit. There were olive branches weaved into a crown on his head. He was now holding a scroll.

A bunch of demigods stood near the group. Even some of the children of Athena coming out of their cabin noticed and started whispering. Louise kept hearing the word '_Claimed_' and _'Athena'_ from them. They must have got an idea. Chiron rushed to the crowd, not using his wheelchair this time, and stood near Jake. A girl with grey eyes and blonde hair stood next to the centaur and Chiron started whispering things to her. The girl nodded.

Chiron cleared his throat and announced (Louise did notice that the centaur must be getting tired of this, seeing as he announces most of the new demigods and their godly parent), "Annabeth will be declaring this new demigod." Most of the demigods around them questioned him but Chiron just gave Annabeth a gesture to start the announcement.

She looked at Jake, Louise and George and introduced herself, "I'm Annabeth Chase, senior counselor of Cabin 6 a.k.a. the Athena cabin" then she turned to the others, "I really don't know how to announce these claiming things so I'll start like this." She fixed her voice into a much more formal tone, "Um… Chiron wants to… um… tell us all that… what's your name?" She asked Jake and he answered nervously, "Uh… Jake. Jacob Bluewood.". "Okay..." Annabeth confirmed ,"Chiron declares Jake Bluewood a child of Athena, goddess of wisdom, war and crafts, my mom".

Jake looked astonished. Louise knew about his record in school. His grades weren't that bad but (according to Louise) if you actually see the report card, you will notice that his grades are much higher in Physical Education. Meaning to say, Louise understood why his expression is like that. Jake wasn't the type of the smart guy. He definitely doesn't spend even an hour in the library unless the teacher forces him to. He once told Louise that he preferred the local football field than the classroom.

Annabeth put her arm around her new half brother, "Don't feel scared" she assured him "I know you don't like how you were claimed. Lots of us demigods not only in our cabin but all over Camp HalfBlood. I can sense that you're not comfortable in the toga but we can always wear our camp t-shirt with whatever we want…" Annabeth went on and on, somehow like she wanted to talk to someone so badly. She led him towards the cabin. Louise knew that on the look of Jake's face that he didn't want to interrupt his sister, so he managed to give the other two a small wave.

With all this time in the campfire, Louise wasn't paying attention. She just kept thinking about her friends and how each of them were getting claimed. She glanced at Lucy, George and Jake, but mostly she kept looking at her winged sneakers. She didn't even realize that the campfire was over, until someone tugged her shirt. Louise was so distracted in what she was doing that when the person who tugged her shirt even touched her, Louise practically jumped out of her skin.

"Ah!" she exclaimed.

The person, who was a girl, looked shocked , but not as surprised as Louise

"Um… sorry!" the girl mumbled.

Louise studied the girl. Her voice a little like Clarisse's, but a little toned down. The girl herself look rough, not like the _bully _type of _rough. _She had dark brown hair and cocoa toned skin. Her skin is dirty with grease. Her clothes wear even dirtier, with _more _grease and oil smudges. She also has a smiley-face bandage on her chin. Louise guessed she was a mechanic. She held out her hand. Louise shook it politely.

"I'm Nyssa", the girl introduced herself.

"Well, I think you know my name" Louise chuckled. She tried being humourous but it seems like this girl had no sense of humour. "Anyway, I'm Louise"

"Um… nice to meet you" Nyssa let go of Louise's hand.

Louise stood up, "So Nyssa, who's your godly parent?"

Nyssa shrugged, "Uh… I thought you were one of those smarty pants. Well, with my appearance, I happen to obviously be a child of Hephaestus. God of blacksmiths, fire and forges. So basically, I'm a mechanic. Oh, and you are obviously a child of Hermes."

Louise adjusted her shirt, "Yup. So, I'm pleased that I actually know and made a friend here in Camp HalfBlood. Nice knowing you, Nyssa." And she started to walk to her cabin.

Nyssa tapped her back, "Oh and tell your half brother Travis Stoll, you know, he's the senior counselor of Cabin 11, that the beds he requested are not done yet."

"Um… beds? We are short in beds in the cabin?" Louise asked curiously.

Both girls heard screams from the Hephasetus cabin, screaming for Nyssa. "Um… just ask someone there in your cabin. But all I can tell is it's _really _crowded there. Bye!" Then, started running to her cabin.

Louise walked to Cabin 11. _What does Nyssa mean 'crowded',_ Louise thought, _did Hermes really have lots of kids?._ She breathe in and out. She was standing in front of her cabin. It looked really worn out and looked like the biggest cabin in the whole Camp HalfBlood. It was painted in a dull shade of brown, but now some of the paint is peeling off. There was a sign on the door, _maybe the sign of pharmacies?_ Louise was finding for the right word, _Oh right! A caduceus! _She still hates the idea of meeting her siblings. She felt like she was stepping into a new classroom all with new faces. She heard a lot of noise. But she wanted this feeling to stop and just climbed up the stairs to the cabin. She opened the door.

Suddenly, all the noise stop. Around maybe 16 pairs of eyes were glued to her. The state of the cabin was a little worse inside. Scattered spitballs were around and lots of haybales maybe? _That must be why Nyssa warned me about the population of the cabin,_ Louise realized. Then, a boy with brown hair and blue eyes came up to her and shook her hand.

He introduced himself, "I'm Travis Stoll, head counselor of Hermes Cabin and your half brother. Oh yeah, that guy over there who looks just like me" he pointed to a boy who looks like an exact replica of Travis, "is my younger brother Connor Stoll. So if you want any older bro advice just call out for any of us. Actually we both are… eh hem… the senior counselors together. Though I once squirted some glue on his pillow so he wouldn't get out of bed for the Counselor's meeting."

He sniggered but Connor looked like he wanted to play a prank back for giving him revenge. All of her siblings do, but in a natural way to blend in their own features.

Louise walked over to a bunk at the corner. Her bunk looked dirty, with food crumbs and ketchup and hot chocolate stains. It was dirty with all the evidence of the pranks each child did to the person on the bunk. As she settled her things on the bunk, she noticed a girl sitting on a bunk nearby. Hers look a little itchy, as if a cat snuggled up with her. Louise checked around to see if there are any animals on the loose but was relieved.

She asked the girl politely, "Um… I'm Louise McKinley. Are all these kids our siblings?"

The girl took a while to answer, maybe she was thinking, and she mumbled, "Uh… not exactly. So you're unclaimed?"

Louise was a little shocked. She saw the girl at the campfire, but she wanted to make a friend. Though she already met the Stoll twins, she didn't have plans of becoming _ best friends (or should she say close half siblings) _with them. So, she decided to keep it cool and just said, "Um… no. I'm a kid of Hermes. How about you?"

The girl shrugged, "I'm your half sister. I'm Natasha Campbell." She stretched out her hand and Louise shook it. Natasha must be glad to be Louise's new friend. She said, "Oh! So you noticed the stains on your bed."

Louise looked at her bed again, "oh yeah! No need to explain." she laughed, "I am guessing our older siblings slept here."

Natasha nodded, "yeah so looking forward to your first day tomorrow?"

Louise removed her sneakers and tried to lie down comfortably, hands behind her head, "Yup! I am actually enjoying this demigodish stuff so far…"

_**Author's note: **____** Nyssa is mentioned in this chapter. So in the next chapter, it's about her vision of the story. Thanks for reading so far. I would appreciate reviews so yeah…. Thanks again for reading **___


	4. Chapter 4

Hermes' mission of messages

Chapter 4-A level-up in friendship

Nyssa

Nyssa felt stupid. _Really? _She scolded herself,_ Tug Louise's shirt? _This was a natural move for her. Whenever she sees someone who needs a friend or whoever she wants to make friends with, she does something weird. Nyssa's just happy that Louise actually agreed to be her friend. Most of the kids, especially mortals, just ignored her after doing whatever she was doing.

She reached her cabin and went inside. She wanted to finish on the beds she promised Cabin 11 right now, even though it was almost _light's out _time. But half of her just wanted to rest. Being the _temporary _head counselor of Cabin 9 was practically no joke. All the kids in the cabin all had equal responsibilities, but Nyssa had to do more. She had to act like a leader. Nyssa looked at Jake Mason, who was singing some kind of a tune, and just sighed. Jake Mason was basically supposed to help her be in charge of the cabin and their siblings , but instead, he rested in a wheelchair with a full body cast. He got the cast when he was trying to fix that bronze dragon that their half brother Leo found. So for now, she had to do most of the work.

She sat on her bunk, thinking about Cabin 11 and anything related to that cabin, when suddenly she heard her name being called by some of her siblings. She stood up and walked over to the voice. The voice came from her half brother, Shane.

Nyssa asked, "Uh Shane… what's wrong?" as she looked at a laptop, which looked like it has been smashed.

"Well, I don't know what happened! Somehow I attached the correct wires together but it still doesn't work." Shane admitted, then he whispered, "Is it because of the Curse of Bunker 9?"

Nyssa shook her head, "No! of course not! Don't believe that!"

Shane said, "Anyway, I saw you making friends with Louise, that girl who just got claimed. So what are you going to do to… well level up your friendship?"

Nyssa was shocked, "Well…. I'll think about it. But just don't worry about that "Curse" thingy, ok?"

Shane nodded. Nyssa did think about what he said. She did want a long friendship with someone else outside her cabin. She did have friends outside her cabin, but she wasn't that close to them. She looked over at the three beds she promised to give to Cabin 11 and then a few minutes after, she fell into deep sleep.

The next day, she woke up to the bright light rays of the sun passing through Cabin 9. She looked at her alarm clock. It was one of her _work of arts_ (as she like to call them). It was a traditional alarm clock with normal features. The only thing different is that she attached a miniature cuckoo bird on the top of the clock to replace to normal _bells_ feature. It makes a lot of noise.

Nyssa looked at the clock. It was 7:18 am. Breakfast was 8 am. She sighed. Her cabin was usually the last to reach the dining pavilion for breakfast. Nyssa knew that the best breakfast was served to the first group of demigods (_meaning to say the first cabin group_) who reaches there. Nyssa reckons that her cabin is the laziest cabin in her opinion (right after the Hypnos cabin. Nyssa doesn't even know if they can even wake up without the distractions of putting them back to sleep easily.)

Plus, cabin inspection is just when everyone was off to eat breakfast in the dining pavilion. She looked around her own cabin. It looks like a mess, with all the bits and pieces of spare parts and handfuls of sawdust everywhere. She never actually saw the cabin neat for more than 10 seconds. Every time she actually got her siblings to clean up their mess, one of them would eventually start another project and it goes back to square one.

She wanted _at least_ today to have a perfect start in the morning. She grabbed her alarm clock, which was placed on her work table nearby (each kid of Hephaestus has their own work table, of course made by themselves), and started activating the alarm to 7:25 am, which was approximately 1 and a half more minutes later. She realized the switch. The silent timer she built in started whirring away. She kept on muttering to her siblings softly "I'm sorry guys!".

After a while, a sound of a rooster from the cuckoo clock. Nyssa then heard groans and moans from all over the cabin. Nyssa's youngest brother, Harley, also complained, "Nyssa! Why should we wake up early?" He smoothened his pillow and almost went back to sleep. Nyssa stood up and went near Harley's bunk, and just snatched his pillow and little Harley's head fell straight on her bed's mattress.

"Ow!" he groaned, "what's that for?"

Nyssa explained, "Guys, I want us to be the first in the dining pavilion."

"What about that?" Christopher, another one of Nyssa's brothers, asked. "We get our breakfast right?"

Nyssa announced, "Well, I heard that whichever cabin peoples, I don't really know what to say in place of _cabin peoples_, anyway, would reach there first, they each get a _secret-recipe_ muffin, specially made by the nymphs."

Everyone sounded amazed. "So," Nyssa concluded "If we get there first, we get the muffins."

Everyone nodded in agreement. One kid even shouted out loud, "Yeah. 'Cuz every time I notice, the Hermes kids gets them each morning. And I heard some of them bragging that the muffins tasted delicious."

Another one replied back, "That's because they sneak into the kitchen and gets some. "

Then, all the demigods started making a lot of noise. Nyssa raised her hand. Suddenly, the whole cabin was silent. That's what she liked about being head counselor, even if she is temporary. It was a little easy for her to control the cabin with that kind of title.

"Ok," Nyssa started, "So better hurry up-"

Before Nyssa even finished her sentence, everyone jumped out of their bunks and started getting ready. Nyssa was proud of herself. This is the first time her cabin got, well, _electrified_. Everyone was throwing pillows and clothes everywhere. There was a big line at the bathroom, though Nyssa and a couple of her siblings remade the shower function faster, switching the water temperatures as fast as a click of a pen. Nyssa just silently joined the line.

Within 7:45 am, all the campers in Cabin 9 were ready, most of them soaking. Nyssa took out a hair dryer she made, which instantly makes the hair dry within a minute, and offered to dry her siblings.

Then after a few minutes, all of them headed to the dining pavilion. Once they reached there, the nymphs were already preparing the food. Nyssa spoke up, "Um.. morning nymphs!"

The nymphs smiled and waved.

One of the Hephaestus kids shouted, "FREE-"

Nyssa kept her hand on his mouth and put her finger on her lip to show him to be quiet. Then, she led her siblings to the Hephaestus cabin. All of them sat down and began to eat.

The nymphs came up to Nyssa, and she gave the nymph a security camera. The nymph got happy and placed it near a fresh batch of muffins. It was a security camera, disguised as a timer. The nymphs asked Cabin 9 to work on it, so they could catch anyone, preferably the Hermes kids, who would steal the muffins.

Nyssa started eating as well. She noticed that most of the demigods arrived early and it was just 7:55 am. Usually all of the demigods arrive late, but it felt comfortable to see everyone enjoying the food.

She glanced at the Hermes table and saw Louise coping with her siblings. Louise managed to make friends with Natasha Campbell, another one of Nyssa's close friends. Well, she couldn't go up and sit with them. It was prohibited. So, she had to wait until there was a chance to have a little conversation.

After a while, everyone went back to their cabins to prepare for their activities. Her first activity was 'PEGASI RIDING WITH THE DEMETER CABIN' She got her tool belt with her and headed off to the fields.

Later on, it was time for 'ARTS AND CRAFTS WITH THE HEPHAESTUS CABIN' so Nyssa got the craftshop ready for the other demigods to come. She dug into her tool belt and pulled out a _long _list of names. She was just scanning for it, until a familiar voice distracted her reading.

"Am I a bit too early?" the voice said.

"Not at all." Nyssa replied, turning her head to the doorway. She saw Louise waving her hand. She waved back. She looked a little better than last night. She washed up, got cleaned and even wore her new Camp HalfBlood tshirt. She was given a satchel to keep stuff in it. But right now, it was overflowing with envelopes and all sorts of messages.

Nyssa offered a seat next to her and Louise sat down. "So" Nyssa asked "How's camp so far? Why did you choose this activity?"

Louise shrugged, "Well, this sounds less dangerous. No, cuz I love making these arts and crafts things –"

"No, but we are providing teaching lessons on _how _to make _weapons_."

"Well I don't mind!" Louise commented, reaching for a hammer "I used these tools ever since I was small."

"Ok… so you need any help or something?"

"Maybe… but how about try helping my friend Lucy a.k.a. kid of Aphrodite."

The girls sniggered with the idea of an Aphrodite kid trying to make a weapon without getting blisters. Then, Nyssa went around the craftshop to fix the tools. After a while, demigods started barging in. Nyssa and her siblings started helping around and giving tips (even though it was _extremely_ hard to discipline the Hecate and the Hermes kids into serious work, as they keep messing around with tools and tricking the others)

Next activity, was 'ANCIENT GREEK WITH THE ATHENA CABIN' Nyssa wasn't that good with Ancient Greek, even with the ADHD, she was highly distracted with other stuff.

Later on, it was FREE TIME. _Wheewww_! She was tired. She laid down on her bunk and started playing with spare bits from her tool belt. A knock started coming from her cabin. She opened it and saw Louise again, with a bunch of messages in her hand.

"These are for you and your sibs, Nyssa" she said with a grin.

Nyssa accepted it and said, "So even if you're a newbie, your sibs gave you _extra_ mail to deliver?"

Louise nodded, "Yeah. The Stoll twins gave like ¾s of their messages to me"

"That seems unfair"

"Well, they better watch out, cuz I have a trick planned up my sleeve." Louise said with a mischievous smile.

"_Oooh! Mysterious…." _Nyssa teased.

Louise laughed, "Oh by the way, singalong campfire in a few hours. Gotta deliver some more mail!"

The girls waved and Nyssa headed out. It was CAPTURE THE FLAG game in a few minutes.

After the tiring game (in which the _Apollo_ kids won in a fair game, until Clarisse got angry and persuaded the Apollo kids to give their winnings to them a.k.a. Ares cabin), Nyssa headed to the campfire where the demigods were discussing some topic. She hurried and sat down with her siblings.

_**Author's note: I received my first review! Thanks **____** . Anyway, I didn't describe the activities in detail as the next chapters would (I think in my opinion) would have a little more excitement so yeah**____** Thanks for reading! Reviews would be Appreciated **___


	5. Chapter 5

Hermes' mission of messages

Chapter 5- The Big Revelation

Jake

Jake had a _pretty _hectic day! He joined a lot of activities so far, such as 'ARCHERY WITH CHIRON' (the centaur doesn't act like _FRIENDLY _Pony anymore during this activity) and 'WAR STRATEGY AND SWORD/SHIELD FIGHTING WITH ARES CABIN' (Clarisse was acting a _little_ too aggressive and bossy today. Well, George seemed like an expert at using weapons even though Jake never saw him hold one before.). The 'SWIM & BEACH TIME WITH THE NEREIDS' didn't actually go that well either. The Athena cabin counted 'BEACH TIME' as a relaxing way of learning. _Ughhhh!_ But right now, he felt most comfortable, the 'SING A LONG AND BONFIRE WITH THE APPOLO CABIN'. He sat and waited for the campfire to start.

Chiron stepped in the middle of the campfire, or should it be _wheeled_ to the middle of the campfire. He brought a rather unrecognizable girl with him. She looked a little more older than Jake, with red fiery hair and bright green eyes. She held some kind of a notebook. Annabeth, who was sitting next to Jake, started whispering under her breath, practically cursing. It sound rude even if he didn't understand Ancient Greek properly yet.

"Demigods" Chiron started off "The gods have announced a notification to Rachel Dare" he turned to the girl, who was obviously Rachel Dare, and she nodded.

"Well," Rachel spoke "The gods have signaled us with a new prophecy," then she started reciting the prophecy:

"_Four demigods on the go,_

_Child with a possession,_

_One born with Technokinesis ,_

_Siblings of different parents,_

_East, west, south, north_

_They will reach,_

_To deliver a message,_

_To any god they meet."_

The crowd made surprised noises. Jake's siblings were the nosiest of all. They started discussing about who might be included and what exactly might the prophecy mean. Jake noticed, that Chiron brought along a megaphone, maybe to help control the noise, and used it to command, "SILENCE!"

In a split second, everyone turned silent, "Anyway," Rachel continued, "this is a quest that Hermes assigned. It would involve a child of Athena, Hephaestus, Ares and of course, Hermes. The chosen child of Hermes, we must reveal is…" she turned to the Apollo cabin and one of them reached for a bongo drum near by and made a drumroll. Rachel opened her notebook and announced, "LOUISE MCKINLEY!"

The crowd turned to Louise and she shyly stood up again, like yesterday. Everyone clapped and applauded. Louise's eyes turned to Rachel and it must have read _Why do you have to announce my name like that?_ Rachel mouthed _Sorry!_ Chiron cleared his throat and said, "Louise, you may choose the people you want to be with on this quest. But remember to choose one each from the Athena, Hephaestus and Ares cabin."

Louise rubbed her chin in a rather peculiar way and said, "Um… well… from the Ares cabin I choose George, from the Hephaestus cabin I choose Nyssa and from the Athena cabin I choose Jake."

"I request all three to stand up." Chiron demanded.

The three rose from their seats. Rachel ordered, "Ok, so you four would have to prepare for your quest in two days and on the 11th you are going to start your journey. But you should return _before_ or _on_ the 31st, the last day of May. Or else consequences await…"

Jake shuddered a bit. _Consequences await…_ that line just sounds creepy. Jake didn't want to experience them in anyway.

The four of them stood down. The Apollo cabin started singing and soon, it was time to return to the cabins to prepare for 'LIGHTS OUT'. As Jake stood up, he had a lot of questions in mind. _What was this prophecy supposed to mean? How does Louise know he is to come with her? What right does that Rachel girl have to proclaim this quest? What is his responsibility in this journey?_ All of the questions just floated around in his mind. He wanted to ask Louise, George or even Nyssa (who he didn't meet personally) what _exactly_ was going on. But he just walked slowly and quietly to his cabin.

The question that he was most confused (well… _second _most confused. The prophecy was confusing enough) was _what exactly is his part in the prophecy? _He knows that the 'Technokinesis' line refers to the child of Hephaestus (Nyssa) but does he have a secret sibling? A prized possession?

He asked that question to Annabeth (who he _obviously_ knew by now that she is the smartest kid in camp) and she replied, "Jake, sit down with me." She patted on the space next to her bunk and explained, "You know, mom sent me a dream a few days ago before you came, that I have to give you something."

She reached for a book from her backpack. It was a huge book, but when Jake held it, it seemed light. It had a rough paper cover with a few faded ink splotches on it. The pages were faded too, in the colour of maps when they are faded. It felt dry and old and also a little fragile.

Annabeth continued, "This is a very famous and old Greek book. An Greek writer called Euripides wrote a book about different Greek gods and goddesses, etc. Athena was so proud of it that she asked him to make a copy of it." She saw his puzzled impression "I know anyone can write something like this but she was really fond of it. But this book is not only special because Athena likes it. It's because she blessed it with the power to provide the reader with everything demigods should know. " Jake looked more confused "Meaning to say, when you want to know something, let's say about Apollo, you just open the book and to whichever page you turn to, it automatically shows you facts about the god. Well, to keep it simple, it's just like Google, but in book version."

Jake nodded. So now the prophecy was getting clearer. "Thanks, sis" He muttered. Annabeth smiled and they said goodnight.

Jake laid down on his bunk. His siblings promised to help him and give him extra lessons to get him prepared. He smiled and after a while, his eyes closed, falling into deep sleep.

_**Author's note: I know this is a short chapter but now you guys would maybe figure out how the name of my story shapes up now. Hopefully the journey would start at Louise's or Nyssa's chapter. The prophecy sounds not that much poetic. I don't really know how prophecy writing works sometimes but I enjoy poetry. Anyway, about Jake's book, I tried to explain how Annabeth would describe the book. But, since it's fanfic, I just made Euripides make a book about the Greek gods and goddesses. So yeah! I hope you like the story so far and please tell me what you think and stuff… Thanks for reading **_


	6. Chapter 6

Hermes' mission of messages

Chapter 6- Preparation and lessons

George

_Woooooaah!_ The whole prophecy declaration thing rushed so fast. That Rachel girl just said it as if she was just reading it normally. And the other shocking thing, HE was chosen! But how does Louise or Rachel even know he or the others are the right ones to come along with Louise? It was just early morning but he knew that those questions would be answered soon.

He looked around the cabin. Just like the attitude of most of his half siblings (yep, he still didn't believe that he was even related to them), the cabin was badly decorated. Its bloody red colour was bright in the sun shining through the _broken_ windows (Clarisse's anger parties). He slowly and silently sat up his bunk and looked around his surroundings. On the ground, various weapons and rocks and other sharp materials were scattered. He then heard a moan, which sounded _a little _like a growl. He craned his neck to see who it is.

It was Ms. _I-would-pulverize-you-if-you-mess-with-me_ a.k.a. Clarisse. She saw George awake and walked (though George would preferably describe it as _stomping lightly_) over to his bunk.

"So kiddo," She said "You thought about what you would need or anything you need to do or somethin'?"

George straightened up, "Um… well, what should a demigod bring on quests?"

"Well… firstly you bring a weapon." She grabbed a sword nearby "this sword was owned by our immortal brother, Phobos, the god of fear." Clarisse hands it over toGeorge, who accepted it nervously. "The user would _kinda_ have like an imaginary shield of fear. Meaning to say, the person you're attacking would be afraid. But it depends if they would want to have an after-fight. But never mind the facts, just take it with you."

George grabbed his backpack and dumped it inside "Ok… thanks for the _helpful _facts. So what else do I need?"

Someone yelled out Clarisse's name. Clarisse aggressive yelled back something rude. She continued, "Well, lil' bro, just bring whatever you think you need… and also some cubes of ambrosia"

She handed a Ziploc bag filled with big chunky cubes. "Just remember," Clarisse added, "to eat this in _small_ amounts. Very powerful, eh… it could kill a demigod if you overdose. Just take it when you are seriously injured… ya know something like that."

Someone called out for Clarisse again, though he wasn't sure if that was the same person (George _still _haven't figure out everybody's voices. They all sound scruffy and rough). Clarisse cursed something in Ancient Greek and headed towards the voice. George looked around the cabin. All of his half siblings seem to be awake at the moment. He then heard Clarisse clear her throat and announced, "Right! Let's head to the mess hall for some breakfast!" George and all of his siblings immediately formed a line and they headed to the mess hall.

The Ares cabin sat at their table. George spotted Nyssa, who was fiddling with some tools, Jake, who was _actually _reading a book, and Louise, who still looked astonished , maybe because of the prophecy. He also noticed the nymphs started serving their healthy breakfast. He still wasn't used to everything yet. He definitely wasn't used to using the gold cup that was placed near his plate.

He nudged Jamie, one of his half siblings (who he actually _kinda _got along with) who was sitting next to him. Jamie looked back and replied, "Whaddaya want, lil bro?"

George found the fact that everyone in cabin five were calling him _lil bro_. "Um. How do we use these cups again?"

"Ugh. Well you just tell the cup what you fancy to drink and _PRESTO!_ Instant beverage!"

George looked back at him with a confused look.

"Go on!" Jamie tried to encourage him, though his scruffy voice made it hard for George to believe him. He looked at the cup, which was glistening with miniature jewels and muttered "Grape juice" soon the cup filled up with dark liquid. He took a sip and let out a small pleasing grin.

"Thanks man." He said to Jamie who was heading to a burning furnace with his food. Everyone was doing same so George just followed with his food. He noticed that every demigod was throwing their best pieces of sausages and grapes. They were dedicating their food to a god, preferably their parents. Then, it was George's turn. He glanced at his plate and held out a ripe bunch of cherries and dropped it to the furnace. "To Ares" he said and walked back to his table.

After breakfast, he headed off to his first class which was 'ANCIENT GREEK WITH THE ATHENA CABIN'. _This must be good, _George thought, _Jake explaining a language he never spoke before. _But to George's surprise, Jake was actually fluent with Ancient Greek. After his speech (which was _amazingly_ spoken in perfect Ancient Greek), Jake sat back on his seat next to George.

"Dude," Jake said "Was I good?"

"You were great." George said "But how come you never mention Ancient Greek before?"

Jake shrugged "Well, I never told you guys that I'm dyslexic. That's partly why I get such low grades in school especially English-"

"Wait, but if you find it hard to understand English, then how come you understood Greek properly?"

"See," Jake explained "if a Greek demigod is dyslexic, it means that he or her brain immediately understands Greek easier than other demigods."

"I see…" George concluded. "So even if you never spoke Greek in your life you could understand it?"

"Uh huh" Jake grinned "and also read Greek"

"Cool" George admitted.

After that, it was 'SWIM & BEACH TIME WITH THE NEREIDS'. Cabin five's idea of _swim time_ is basically using water guns and aiming at each other. George also got to enjoy this time, seeing as he participated in the game. The nereids were too busy playing and throwing water and seaweed around the beach. "Okay" Clarisse announced "Dear siblings, during Capture the Flag we _gotta _win! Do I hear a yes?"

"YES!" everyone shouted.

"Let's not let the dorky nerds of Cabin 6 beat us again" Clarisse added

Cabin 5 let out another yell. A horn sounded in the atmosphere. Next lesson: 'SWORD FIGHTING WITH THE HERMES CABIN' _This should be interesting_, George pondered as he grabbed a plain sword and headed off to the grounds. When he reached there, for some reason, the Stoll twins Connor and Travis were battling themselves. No seemed to win. George could actually figure out the problem. They weren't holding the swords properly and they were tricking each other so that the other twin could take over. It seemed like a simple math problem to him. He stepped forward and said, "Um, you guys are not doing it properly."

"You know how?" Travis or Connor or whoever asked, sniggering. "Who do you wish to try battling with our apprentice here?"

"I, challenge George to a sword battle." Louise appeared in front of George.

George held out his hand and they shook. "Are you sure you wanna do this?" George whispered "I'm kinda like an expert at this…"

"I know what I'm doing." Louise assured him as they put on their armor.

Then, they stood in position. Louise did the first move and aim the sword at him. George immediately blocked her sword and slashed his sword against her elbow cap. It left a mark and within a second a mark of Louise's sword was visible on upper left of his breastplate. Soon, they were clashing and swinging their swords. George knew what to do, but with that heavy protective gear he has on, it makes it harder for him to actually do his sword tricks. George aimed his sword right in the middle of her breastplate. As he did that, she tumbled and rolled out of place, disappearing to nowhere. Then, George felt a tap on his shoulder and as soon as he turned around, Louise stabbed him in the middle of his breastplate with the back of her sword.

He fell down and looked up to Louise, who was holding out her hand to help lift George up. He noticed something different about her, something about her hair. In her hair, a hair strand in the colours of blue on top of red was brightly shining in the sunlight. "No, this can't be it." George stammered.

"What's wrong?" Louise asked.

"Nothing" He gripped the hand and stood up.

"Good match. You did great."

"Thanks. You too" they shook hands

She touched a symbol of the caduceus, the symbol of her dad. And it shrunk into a purple USB flashdrive, decorated with tiny diamonds near the edge of the object where the USB pops out.

"Dude, that's cool! Where did you get it?" George said, looking amazed. "But I thought we are not allowed to use magic items during lessons… "

Louise put her finger to her lips, "Dude, Be quiet! I didn't know, so I'm just trying to get away it it" She then looked at her USB, "This? Well I carry this everywhere, wherever and whenever I need to insert some files… you know the _normal USB stuff_. But, when I was playing with this in my cabin, a sword just appeared." She slid the USB part out and the sword appeared again. "See?"

"Wow!" George clapped.

Louise bowed playfully, as if she just presented a magic trick "How about you? Any magic items you received?"

"Well, Clarisse gave me a sword which my immortal brother Phobos used to own. It is kinda strong. It has like an aura to make whoever I'm battling with afraid of fighting with me. You get the idea…"

Louise's eyes widened "Oh my gods really? Good thing you didn't bring it, cuz it would scare the guts out of me."

They laughed as they walked backed to the benches to sit down. "So Louise, how come you're so familiar with using weapons?"

Louise replied, "Well, it's mainly cuz of my ADHD, which stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. So basically I could handle weapons and create war strategies at ease."

"I guess I'm ADHD too."

"Maybe, maybe not. It's kinda hard to judge seeing as your dad is the war god."

"I actually remember my mom telling me that I'm ADHD but not exactly extreme."

"Oh well. Doesn't matter. Each demigod is different right?"

George nodded. His next lesson is 'MAKE YOUR OWN WEAPONS WITH HEPHAESTUS CABIN'. He was kinda excited seeing as he enjoys making crafts. But when he reached there, it was harder than it looked. All the screws he touched poked him and a lot of the tools seem heavy and uncomfortable. By the end of the lesson, he gained to splinters and small cuts here and there. It was finally FREE TIME!

George was just heading back to his cabin, when someone called his name. it was coming from a girl. He turned around and saw Nyssa, the girl Louise chose to come with her on the quest. He sat next to Nyssa and said, "Yes Nyssa, any problem?"

"Not at all." She shrugged casually "so you're George, one of the guys Louise chose for the quest?"

He nodded "Yeah, I'm the one! I'm just kinda nervous. I never actually experienced being on quests often."

"Yeah me neither. I was just happy cuz this is one of the only times I get to explore the world outside Camp HalfBlood."

George blinked, "You mean, you've never been outside camp ever since you came here?"

"Kinda like that" Nyssa explained "I'm kinda like a year round camper, meaning to say like I stay here most of the time. But not all campers are year round, seeing as those type of campers could stay safely in the mortal world without any monsters looking for them."

"Ahh… ok so it depends on how powerful we are?"

"Yup" Nyssa nodded.

George winced. "You alright?" Nyssa asked.

"I'm fine."He managed " Anyway, I didn't' get to ask Clarisse to explain the stuff we need to bring. Still confused about how the ambrosia works."

"Well, we can test the ambrosia, seeing as you badly hammered your finger and poked yourself with-"

"Let's just skip those points." George said, foolishly "Let's try it out."

Nyssa reached for a small treasure chest. She opened it and inside were some miniature golden cubes. It was shining as if someone sprinkled fairy dust on the cubes. She took a small piece, and broke it into even smaller pieces and handed it to George.

"Ok. _ALWAYS _remember to take it in small quantities only." Nyssa reminded.

George took it and popped it in his mouth. The ambrosia tasted like chocolate fudge with hot chocolate syrup oozing out of the fudge. It reminded him of those rare moments when his mom used to bake him when she was in a good mood. The ambrosia made him a little homesick, but he reminded himself that he ate this to heal his swollen hands. He looked at the hands and tried stretching them. He didn't feel any soreness. It felt as if he never even crushed his hands with the tools.

"Whoa!" George exclaimed "these things are like painkillers!"

"So that's how they work" Nyssa grinned. She looked at her watch "Oh no! you're late for your next lesson."

George concluded "Well thanks for teaching me. See you later"

They waved goodbye and he carried on to his next lesson.

After his lesson ('ARCHERY WITH CHIRON') he prepared for the next activity. It's his first 'CAPTURE THE FLAG' game. The Ares cabin were the leaders of the red team while the Athena cabin was the leaders of the blue team. Hermes, Hephaestus, Demeter and Dionysus cabins were on the red team. The rest were on the blue team. It seemed unfair for Jake that most of his friend weren't on his team (even if Lucy was on his team), but his expressions didn't show. He had the same competitive look, but now his confidence improved a little, maybe because his siblings and him made an idea on how to defeat the red team.

The teams took their positions and got their weapons ready. They were to use their magic weapons so George managed to use Phobos' sword, though he hoped the power would not be that intense. He didn't want to hurt anyone seriously.

Chiron blew his horn and the game started. "Ok, punks" Clarisse ordered "Hermes kids stay near the boundary with some of us Ares kids. Dionysus and Demeter kids stay near the woods and do whatever you wimps do with the plants to help distract or to help keep them away from catching our flag. The Hephaestus and the rest of the Ares kids, head over near the river to protect our flag. Now Go Go Go!"

George ran to the river. He spotted Nyssa heading to the river. The Ares kids and Hephaestus kids soon reached the place. George also spotted the flag. It was tinted in nasty bloody red, with a head of a rather creepy boar. Then, he heard a sound of a crowd rushing towards the other side of the river. One of those included in the opposite crowd was Jake. Most of them then stopped at the river and started rolling up their pants and taking of their shoes. George too did notice some Aphrodite kids who were arguing over who should carry who to get over the river.

He also noticed Lucy in the other team. The different thing about Lucy is that however girly she is, she would do anything to get what she wants. She snapped her fingers and her outfit turned into a wetsuit with flippers. He was distracted by the outrageous sight until a shout from the red team reminded him that there was a flag to defend. George noticed Jake moving near him.

He pulled out his sword. Jake also took out a dagger. The dagger was fully in celestial bronze. The hilt was coated with titanium and was embroidered with carvings of grey owls. The tip of the dagger is made of obsidian. George guessed that maybe his siblings made it in the 'WEAPON MAKING' class. At the same time, George took out his sword and got ready to battle with Jake.

Jake swinged his dagger over George's head. George immediately block his aim with the body of his sword. He then continued the battle, but secretly leading him near the river. His next plan sounds too harsh, but, _hey! , _George said to himself, _I bet I'm gonna battle more bloodcurdling creatures outside camp!_ The pair went on with their nonstop sword fight. Then after a while, George released his sword from the collision and fiercely hit Jake's leg closest to the river and he slid down.

George actually felt sorry for him but then all this time, they actually captured the blue team's flag. Since Hephaestus kids captured the flag, the flag just magically changed its theme from grey owls to fiery colours with nuts ornamented around the edges. The Hephaestus kids cheered around and head cheerfully out of the woods, heading straight to Cabin 9 to celebrate.

George almost forgot that his friend was on the stony ground. Jake moaned, "George, little help here?"

George apologized, "oh sorry man." He pulled Jake up and helped him clean up and wrapped his jacket around Jake's waist to cover up the water. "Did you seriously get hurt?"

"Not exactly," Jake grinned "Good fighting skills, no offence to your dad! Anyway, we obviously need the talents for our trip. So it's totally cool dude! "

They both walked back to camp where everyone was settling down and started melting chocolate for some s'mores.

After the singalong campfire, George piled up the stuff he was going to bring for the trip. He kept it on his bedside cupboard and laid down on his bunk. _A brand new adventure awaits!_

_**Author's note: So, this is practically by now the most longest chapter I ever wrote for this story. Next chapter is when the four actually leave camp! I hope you like the concept of the story so far. Also, a lot of the scenes I described are written in kinda like my own vision of Camp HalfBlood, but I'm trying to make it sound natural. So, please review about your opinions on the story. Thanks **___


	7. Chapter 7

Hermes' mission of messages

Chapter 7- The journey begins

Louise

The Hermes-Athena blessing. That's something Louise was _said _she has. Her cabinmates found out that fact when they were in their 'ANCIENT GREEK WITH ATHENA CABIN' class. She just finished her speech, which she recited fluently in Ancient Greek. She went back to her seat and started talking to Natasha.

"So how was my speech?" Louise asked.

"It was great." Natasha said, showing her a double thumbs up.

Then, an annoying urge in her body built up and she replied back to Natasha "So you gonna say a speech or something?"

"What?" Natasha squinted her eyes at Louise in a very perplexed way.

What Louise didn't notice is that she was speaking in another language, not English, not Greek, but Dutch. She seemed to speak the language as if she spoke it before, "I was saying… you're gonna recite something or whatever you wanna say in Ancient Greek? You know participation is very important…"

"Huh?" Natasha replied back looking more confused "I barely understand French even if I have a ancestor from France"

_French?_ Louise thought surprisedly, _I was speaking French? What's wrong with me today?_

Louise tried to manage herself to speak English. "Um sorry! I'll just try to be quiet."

Unfortunately, some Athena kids overheard Louise speaking in different languages. They heard her and whisked her away to the Athena cabin and sat her on one of the chairs infront of a table. "Ok," Malcolm, the second-in-charge of the Athena cabin. "Recite the prophecy given to you in as many languages as you can fit in"

Louise didn't know exactly what he meant but she was confident of what to do. She started narrating the prophecy, first in Latin, then in Arabic, Greek, Mandarin, Japanese, French, Spanish and Russian. Natasha, Malcolm and rest of the Athena kids were bewildered by what happened and started whispering, something about Louise.

"So, " Malcolm explained "You, my fellow halfblood, have what is called the Hermes-Athena Blessing."

"Wwwwwait?" Louise said, confused "Hermes-Athena Blessing? What's that?"

"Well…" Malcolm continued "The story goes on like this. Seeing as your dad is the god of travelers, I bet he travelled everywhere in the world. Anyway, Athena decided to join forces with Hermes to create a blessing. This power is either blessed on a child of both gods, but has to be worthy enough to take care of this blessing. So there it is!"

Jake stepped forward "Dude chill!" He rubbed his hands on Louise's arms, who seem be uncertain of what's going on "Us smarty pants figured out that maybe that's the reason why you were one of the people mentioned in the prophecy"

"But what's my part in the prophecy" Louise asked

"Not all is mentioned. We'll soon find out." Jake assured. "Anyway get ready for tomorrow. It's the big day tomorrow."

~ X . X . X . X ~

Louise woke up to her siblings screams and sniggers. _Today is the day! _She opened her eyes and saw her siblings' usual activity, snatching things from others, screaming and tickling each other. _Definitely what kids of Hermes would do…_ She glanced at her bag, which was resting on her bedside cupboard. "So you're ready?" Natasha said enthusiastically

Louise sat up "Yeah… I guess so."

Natasha shook her "You should not _guess_. You should _know._"

"Um… ok" Louise tried to say it casually. She was not sure about this. Camp HalfBlood was like her home. She never experienced a proper and loving home. It would be horrible to leave this environment , where there are people who are like her and people (or half-people in Chiron's case) who understand her.

"It's fine. I mean… you're lucky! Demigods _barely _get out of camp, well unless they only come for the summer. Demigods also _rarely_ get asked to or get chosen to go on quests. Well I know we are prone to monsters and stuff… but you guys have to take the chance to be out of camp."

"well thanks Natasha!" Louise hugged her and followed her to the mess hall.

After their breakfast, Louise went back to the Hermes cabin with Natasha to help prepare a backpack for the journey. Natasha took the first lesson off, or should she say in Hermes talk, sneaked out of the first lesson. Louise truthfully hadn't had the chance to pack up her stuff, mainly because she was busy with all the lessons to prepare her for some serious monster-kicking.

"Are you sure Chiron won't mind you missing archery?" Louise asked.

"Nahh!" Natasha said casually "I don't even think he notices me there!"

"Oh well…" Louise sighed "I'm gonna miss Camp HalfBlood." She dropped her bag on her bunk and Natasha sat next to her.

"It's fine" Natasha assured "Just have fun and live the life… um… killing monsters…"

"Haha!" Louise cheered up "Thanks a lot sis"

They hugged each other and went outside. When they arrived outside, a gleaming gold chariot stands in front of them. She saw George and Jake piling up their goods and the mail they would deliver to the gods. Pulling the chariot were two pegasi, white with tremendous feathery wings. Nyssa appeared out of her cabin to carve small symbols on the sides of the chariot.

"This is amazing!" Louise said amusingly. She then turned to Natasha and hugged her tightly "I guess it's goodbye."

Louise let go after a while and headed towards the chariot. She loaded her things on the chariot and jumped in. Natasha walked up to the chariot before it went out of camp and asked, "Louise, don't worry! I bet Dad can help us"

"Well… I don't know" Louise answered. "the gods can't always be trusted."

"Yeah I know, especially if our Dad is the patron of travelers. I doubt that he is even going to care about this quest even though he assigned it."

"Agree."

Nyssa ordered, "Ok, you guys left anything? Bring it fast. We are ready for take off anytime."

Jake asked George and Louise to make sure and replied back to Nyssa "We can proceed!"

Natasha said, "You guys, take care and kick some monster butt!"

"You too!" Louise said "Bye!"

The pegasi started flapping their wings and soon, the chariot was ascending and hovering over Camp HalfBlood. Louise looked down and saw all the cabins and HalfBlood Hill. She is definitely going to miss this place.

She took out her map and started scanning it for the first destination they are going to stop on.

"Lou, where's our first stop?" George asked.

"France" Louise replied "We are gonna see Aphrodite."

"So, you know what day are we gonna land on France?"

"Well, with a little teleporting magic from me, which is blessed on this chariot, hopefully it would take a day. But I could make us go there this instant-"

Jake chipped in "But why wouldn't you do that?"

Louise explained "I have the power to actually teleport us immediately to the place but Chiron told me to keep the quest fair so this is the fastest I can take us"

"Ok then" Jake said.

After a few minutes of studying the routes of the journey, Louise heard someone chewing loudly. She turned around (since she was sitting in the front row with Nyssa and the boys are at the back) and saw the boys munching on some sandwiches.

"Hey can I have some?" Louise asked.

"Sure" George said, handing her two pieces.

Louise passed one piece to Nyssa and started nibbling on her sandwich.

Jake yawned "Boy I'm sleepy!"

"Me too!" George agreed sleepily.

"Ok" Nyssa said "You guys can take some rest and we'll wake you up as soon as we reach there"

The boys closed their eyes and snoozed into deep sleep.

Nyssa said, "So Louise, I thought the gods are only assigned to be in United States."

Louise answered "Well, Chiron explained to me that since Zeus had set a strict rule on how halfbloods shouldn't contact the gods, for the meantime, the gods scattered around the world. That's so that us demigods would find it difficult to communicate to the gods."

"But I heard that some gods are stuck in United States"

"Yeah they are. But we're not gonna deliver parcels to _all _the gods. Just some of them."

"It would be crazy if we deliver to all the gods. Anyway, why do we have to be the chosen ones to go on the quest?"

"It's cuz the gods don't always receive messages from their children due to my father's mail business which is _always_ busy"

After the conversation, the girls became silent. Nyssa continued to silently control the pegasi's reins. Louise looked out into the clouds, unsure and lost in thoughts. _May 17__th__. _Her birthday was coming soon. One of her biggest wish each year on that day is to find out who her real parents are, her real home. Well, she obviously knew that Hermes was her dad, no doubt. But she never knew her mom. She rarely remember her childhood, just the fact that she kept on switching foster parents, mainly because of her hyperactive mind. She also recalls taking care of herself at a very young age. That was basically her lifestory so far.

Louise was just silently thinking about all this… until she heard a screeching. She looked around in the air and noticed bees crowding around the chariot. But these weren't normal bees. These flying insects were the size of full grown pigeon with red eyes glowering at whoever they made eye contact with. They also spurt out some kind of a poisonous green acid.

Louise warned Nyssa about this "Um… Nyssa…"

"What?"

"WATCH OUT!"

Louise pulled Nyssa down as a bee hovered above them, spitting acid.

"Ok, keep calm" Nyssa said, in a not-so-calm tone "Wake up the boys. I'll start attacking the bees." She magically took out a slingshot from her yellow toolbelt and started aiming for the bees.

Louise shook the boys awake and the three were ready with their weapons. Louise slid the USB open and her sword appeared in her hand.

Louise declared, "It's officially time to knot the beeswax out of these monsters!"

They all started slaying the bees but they also tried to avoid getting covered in bee acid. Louise stabbed and poked a lot of bees fiercely. There were around a hundred of these insects, but finally they defeated the mob of bees.

Louise looked around the chariot, which was covered in a few splats of acid that was eating away some parts of the chariot. She flicked some drops off the chariot, but didn't manage to make the chariot look spotless. She almost forgot about the pegasi.

"Guys…" Nyssa whispered worriedly "We have another problem…" She pointed to the pegasus on the right.

The pegasus was acting all jumpy and energetic for some unexplainable reason. "I think it's because of the acid." Jake pointed out to a drop of the green liquid on the pegasus "It must have had some effect on the pegasus. I think one of the side effects of the acid on winged horses is that its wings might get-"

The pegasus now moving about, its legs strring and its voice roaring crazily. The other pegasus was trying to avoid its partner. This was _not _a good sign. Louise could feel the chariot falling down. The air resistance was definitely growing smaller. There was a low chance of _actually _landing safely. All four of them were gripping tightly on the chariot and their stuff. The rest of the stuff fell off the chariot. Both pegasi were both long gone. "Ok," George warned, "We gotta stay safe…"

The chariot landed unsafely with a loud THUMP! "Are we ok?" Jake wondered aloud.

The four stepped out of the chariot. The chariot was destroyed, the smoke practically blackened the beautiful gold tint. A few seconds later, it exploded. "Nyssa," Louise shrieked "What just happened?!"

Nyssa moved her foot from side to side "Well, I think in the process of making our ride, I must have made some kind of a self-destructive bomb at the same time if by any chance it crashes."

Louise noticed that Jake was not concerned about the damaged chariot. He was looking around their belongings and their surroundings. "Louise," Jake asked "where are we?"

She glanced at the place. She saw colourful flowers, smelled cheese and warm bread, the bright sun shining. She took some time to calculate how long were they travelling, the places they must have passed through and the lovely environment around them. Louise's face broke into a smile, "Guys, I think we have at least some good news…"

George, Jake and Nyssa all stared at her as if to say, _What good news?_

"We, mes amis, " Louise proudly announced to her friends "must be in France."

_**Author's note: So, how do you guys like my story so far? The four finally started their quest! I just have some things to say. Firstly, I'm not exactly sure if there is such thing as the Hermes-Athena blessing. Secondly, sorry if the bees fighting scene is not elaborated properly. I'm not exactly good at writing battle scenes**____**. Anyway, it's just fanfiction **____** we're just simple people who have the interest in writing, right? That's it. So if you like the story so far, just give a review. Thanks for reading! **___


	8. Chapter 8

Hermes' mission of messages

Chapter 8- Bonjour la France

Nyssa

"France? Are you sure?"

Louise nodded. Yep, they were definitely in France. City of love. The headquarters of Aphrodite, Nyssa's step mother. She could see the flowers dancing with the calm wind. She could smell the welcoming smell of French food and the soothing atmosphere. _Certified French_. She looked around and asked, "So where are we gonna start looking for Aphrodite?"

Jake said, "Well, maybe we could find her in a place where ladies hang out or something like that… you know what I mean right?"

The boys looked at Nyssa and Louise. Nyssa doesn't know where to start looking. She and her mom barely go to those type of places, seeing as she works _overtime _as an engineer and takes care of her and her two younger brothers, Angelo and Rico as well, so practically Nyssa was clueless.

Louise didn't look like she knew where to find Aphrodite as well. Unexpectedly, George suggested, "Um… well… I guess we can look in a shop or something like that". He pointed to a shop which looked like it said '_Afrodite Jewelers_ '. The four walked up to the jewelry shop.

"Are you sure this is the one?" Nyssa said and squinted her eyes. Even with the dyslexia, she was certain that it said _Afrodite_.

"Definitely the one" Louise assured as she open the doors of the shop. The shop looked bright and very gold with all of the jewelry. It wasn't just jewelry. There were accessories as well, such as feather boas and purses and those type of trinkets. Nyssa looked around for a very beautiful lady, but she noticed a lady with rounded glasses and petite features. She was wearing a navy blue blazer with a matching skirt and heels. She was cleaning at some earrings with pink diamonds embroidered on a gold heart.

Louise cleared her throat and started speaking in French "Um… _Bonjour Madame_. I'm not sure if you would know her, but we are looking for a lady called Aphrodite… so you know her?"

The lady looked up from the earrings and replied in French "just follow me" and led them into a room.

They followed her to the room. "Do you think this lady understood what you said?" George whispered.

"Is that supposed to be an _irrelevant _question?" replied back a voice that has a twist of French accent in her voice.

Nyssa turned around, only to witness the most beautiful lady she ever seen. The lady was wearing the most exquisite dress printed with bright and colourful symmetrical patterns. Her shoes were beige heels and her chocolate coloured hair was styled in a perfect updo. Her makeup was just perfectly done and she had this type of power to make it look like her gold jewelry were glowing in this dark room.

"Ah… Aphrodite?" Nyssa stammered.

"Yes, dear step daughter," Aphrodite flashed a perfect grin at her "I'm pleased that you wanted to visit me here in France" The accent definitely annoyed Nyssa highly, but at the same time she couldn't get mad at that fact.

"Actually, Lady Aphrodite" Louise stepped forward with a few parcels in her hands "I would like to give these to you" She handed the parcels to the goddess. The goddess took it and opened it. Inside a big parcel were offerings and messages, mostly from Aphrodite's children. "Aww… My kids are the sweetest ever!" Aphrodite smiled, but she barely gave the letters a second glance.

The other petite packages were jewelry, clothes and other unnecessary things (according to Nyssa), including a small note from Olympus. After a while, Nyssa started to get uncomfortable in Aphrodite's room."So," the goddess asked "Anymore questions?"

Nyssa cleared her voice "Um, Madame Aphrodite, one thing, why does it say 'Afrodite' on your store door?"

"What?" Aphrodite stood up angrily. Her face was a shade of pomegranate red and she was literally storming out of her store. The demigods followed her out of the store and the goddess started doing a small hissy fit infront of the door itself. "Ugh, mortals!" Aphrodite shrieked "they never get it right!" The demigods giggled behind the goddess' back. She turned around and the halfbloods prepared straight faces to show Aphrodite respect.

"Oh My gosh!" Aphrodite wiped her forehead and applied a thin coat of shimmery pink lipgloss. Nyssa was thinking about asking the goddess if she had any more mail to give, but she just wanted to get going with the mission.

"Anyway," Aphrodite continued. " I need you to give these parcels to these certain immortals as well as some of my half-mortal kids." _Oh my gods! _Nyssa thought _It's like she actually read my brain!_

She handed the boxes to the boys, who suddenly got weighed down with the boxes and dumped it in an empty sack. "Be very careful, boys" Aphrodite warned "Anything else?"

"It was an honour getting to meet you, Madame Aphrodite" Louise said in French.

Jake frowned "What did she say?"

Aphrodite laughed "Dear Louise, you don't need to communicate with me in French. Jake, she said that it was an honour to meet me."

"Ah ok!" Jake said.

_Yeah right! _Nyssa said in her thoughts. "Um…" George looked at his watch "I think we better get going…"

"But do you you know any means of transportation here where we can take going to Greece?" Louise asked.

"I can't help you darlings, " Aphrodite said, putting some effect of pitiness in her voice "I do know a train station nearby that takes you to Greece."

"Thanks a lot Aphrodite" Nyssa said "Nice meeting you!"

"Well off you go, dear stepdaughter and friends" Aphrodite waved, as George, Jake, Louise and Nyssa started to walk away from the jewelry store.

"Nyssa, " Louise said curiously to her friend as they walked along the pavement"you uneasy or something?"

Nyssa kicked a small rock out of her way and looked to her "Well… I wasn't that comfortable meeting my stepmom. If I were to be followed, I would just leave her parcels near the door with a note that says: _Dear Madame Aphrodite, I hope you would enjoy your stuff. Keep up with all the poshiness! XOXO Nyssa __. _"

The other three laughed at that statement. "We're sorry you had to feel uncomfortable being in a room with Aphrodite" George said. "It's totally fine" Nyssa smiled "I mean I just tried to control my temper cuz I was so irritated" Nyssa learned, even in her early days in Camp HalfBlood, that you must _never_ mess with an immortal, however annoying they get. That is, unless, you want to be a jackalope or lose any of your senses.

"So," Jake said cheerfully "where is that train station Aphrodite was telling about?"

Louise looked around and saw a sign which must have signify how far the train station is "_La Gare au France _is a couple of kilometers away. We just need to turn left, left, right, left, straight, right, left and there we are!"

"Wha-" the other three exclaimed with puzzled looks on their faces.

"Oh my gods, you guys," Louise smiled "just follow me"

So, the four halfbloods started their journey walking to _La Gare au France. _The weather was turning hot. The air was filled with sweet scents of perfume as they walked near big department stores. The concrete roads and floor seem to be slightly textured in a sophisticated way. The bags were all weighing them down, but they all still managed to carry on. Nyssa soon got bored and started fiddling with a broken stapler, breaking it and re-mending it again.

Once they reached the station, they stood infront of a sign board. It said (In French with English translations):

_Welcome to La Gare au France_

_Adult: __€15.65_

_Adolescents 14-17: €7:88_

_Children 12 and below: €3:99_

_Enjoy your trip!_

"Wait," Jake asked "Do we have the money? Will the cashiers accept US dollars?"

"No worries" Louise smirked, as she fished out a couple of Euro banknotes.

George's eyes widened "Where did you get those? We didn't even stopped by an ATM or a bank or something"

"Let's just say when it comes to money, leave it all to Hermes' kids" Louise assured him.

She distributed the money and the group paid for their tickets. The cashier handed them their tickets. "_Merci Monsieur!_" Nyssa said pleasantly to the cashier.

"N, Never knew you could speak French" Jake told Nyssa with an elbow nudge.

"Well, I'm not fluent" Nyssa admitted.

They walked their way throughout the station as soon found platform 3, which would leave for Greece in 10 minutes. As soon as they stepped on the platform the train was already there and was to board in 3 minutes.

"C'mon" Louise ordered "Quick! We gotta catch this train!"

The demigods ran rapidly to the train. Louise, Jake and George easily jumped on quickly. But Nyssa was left, running on the platform. The train was starting to move. The doors were beginning to close. Tension and fear was growing inside Nyssa. "Hang on!" George shouted as he held out his hand. Nyssa grabbed it, now sprinting at the speed of the train.

Louise, Jake and George started pulling Nyssa in. "Faster!" Nyssa said, with beads of sweat trickling near her cheeks "The train's speeding up!"

"Guys, I'll handle this" George said to the other two. He fiercely clutched Nyssa's hand and with one strong drag, he pulled Nyssa into the train, which was now closing its doors.

"Oh my gods, thank you George!" Nyssa thanked him.

George nodded in reply. Nyssa looked out near the edge and realized that she dropped one of Aphrodite's parcels and started cursing silently. "Don't worry" Louise said, as if to read her mind "though I'm not sure if the receiver would like a missing package" Nyssa smiled a bit and continued concentrating on the environment outside the train.

The train was running at top speed. The sky was a pastel shade of blue. The clouds danced swiftly in the sky. The sun seemed to be following the train. Nyssa sat down on her seat and started tinkering with a broken watch.

Jake announced to his friends "Off we are to the _Land of our immortal parents_, Greece!"

_**Author's note: Please review about what are your opinions about my fanfic **____** Anyway, I didn't include a lot of French because I'm not sure whether the sentences I write in French are correct. Also, I hope you guys get the idea about how I described the atmosphere of France. THIS IS FANFICTION SO YEAH… . Thank you for reading this chapter and if you read the whole story so far, thanks again**____**! **_


	9. Chapter 9

Hermes' mission of messages

Chapter 9-Train trip chaos

Jake

Jake sat on the red velvet seat across Nyssa, who was still enjoying the view outside the train. He didn't need to blame Nyssa. The scene outside was so beautiful, it's impossible not to take your eyes of the window. The scene is a sunset, with mesmerizing colours of purple, red and orange painted on the sky. Birds were flying back to their nests to rest from another busy day. The lights in the train are starting to brighten as the day turns to night.

Jake rummaged through his backpack and reached out to pick up his book that Athena gave to him. He never once opened it since they left camp and he was itching to take a glance in it again. As soon as he opened it Nyssa said "Hey, Owl Guy! What's that?"

She leaned forward to look at it. "Don't call me that! It's actually a book that mom gave." Jake answered. He started telling about the history of the book.

Nyssa nodded and commented "Wow! I thought your dyslexia and ADHD plus your eagerness _not _to study didn't help with your academics." She laughed and said "Now, I think you would know what Einstein's equation means." "I actually do," Jake said. _Time to impress her with some knowledge! "E_ represents units of energy, while _m_ represents units of mass and _c2 _is speed of light squared. So all together, _E=Mc2 _means _Energy equals mass times speed of light squared._"

"Nice one!" Nyssa clapped genuinely "Don't try soaking me in knowledge. I'll practically pass out by the time you go through half of an encyclopedia! Anyway, what's special about this book?"

"Well, what god or monster or demigods or whatever do you wanna search about?" Jake asked

"I don't know…"

"Your dad?"

"Maybe…"

"Decide quickly!"

"Okay!" Nyssa finally thought hard "I guess we can try searching about Demeter, as she is the next goddess we are gonna visit"

"Really? Sure." Jake opened the book to pages with facts about the goddess. "It says here that she is, obviously, the goddess of agriculture and harvest. She also has the ability to summon and manipulate plants and turn things into plants" _Better keep it cool with this goddess,_ Jake reminded himself ,_I can't imagine myself as a fern! This handsome face ain't for nothing!_

"It also says her kids are Katie and Miranda Gardner"

"Oh yeah" Nyssa remembered "I know Miranda. You should have seen her cabin on the day before you guys came. Cabin 4 was literally working hard on the strawberry fields. That cabin, honestly, makes the best strawberry muffins" She licks her lips in the thought of the food.

"Which reminds me," He glanced over to George and Louise, who are both sleeping comfortably in their seats with blankets wrapped around them. Both of them moved in their sleep, like little bunnies sleeping. George snored a bit… but Louise… _She looks adorable…_, Jake thought, _Stop distracting yourself!_ He slapped himself lightly on the cheek.

"Hey, you okay?" Nyssa shook Jake.

Jake stood up "It's nothing" He walked over to George's and Louise's side of the train and went back to his seat with a couple of blueberry muffins in his hands. "Cabin 4's best"

He handed two muffins to Nyssa "Thanks" she replied "But I never knew Camp HalfBlood has blueberry fields"

"I heard that the Demeter kids grow a secret batch of blueberries every once in a while, but I don't know if Mr. D. is aware of that" Jake said, taking a bite of the muffin. The blueberries had just the right amount of sweetness. Even if he still haven't explored the whole camp, the muffins reminded him of the special breakfast muffins that Cabin 6 once managed to get for being the earliest in the dining pavilion. It was the same recipe…

After they were finished, Jake and Nyssa continued scanning Athena's book. Whenever they pass through pages about monsters, a 3D hologram of the monster would appear on the book.

"Loving the book" Nyssa admitted "The only 3D picture that doesn't need 3D glasses"

"Wait, just hear this…" Jake touched the hologram and it let out a loud roar, as if the monster is actually responding to him in person.

"Is everything fine sir? Is there something I can do to help?" A man ,who must be a train manager asked, with a slightly unusual accent. Not French. Not Greek. Not exactly English. Just plain indescribable. He walked near the 2 demigods. Jake could sense there is something wrong with this man, but he can feel that he is not exactly human…

"Yes, we're fine, thank you" Nyssa replied.

The train manager nodded and turned to walk away from them, but Jake could see at the corner of his eye, that he was whispering to another train manager and giving Jake and Nyssa them an evil look.

Jake closed the book and kept it on his side and said in a whisper "Nyssa, do you find anything suspicious about that train manager who passed by us?"

Nyssa nodded nervously "Let's just be aware about whatever might happen" Jake nodded back to her in agreement. A few moments later, he fell into deep sleep.

x-x-x-x

He slept into a dream where he was dumped in a black room, with no windows whatsoever. Jake tried exploring the room in darkness. He wandered in the room, back and forth, again and again, but all that's happening is that the area of the room was shrinking every minute. He tried screaming "HELLO? ANYONE HERE? HELLO?!"

This went on for ages. By the time he stopped, he was exhausted and the room kept on shrinking rapidly. He tried leaning on a wall, which was of course hard for him to find. He finally leaned onto a wall on his right when he started hearing a voice.

"_Wake up! Wake up now!" _the voice said in a soothing way.

Jake was surprised. He tried looking around the darkness.

"_Jacob! I demand you to wake up!"_

"Wait! Who on earth are you?" Jake called out.

"_WAKE UP!"_ "But I don't even know who-"

Jake felt like he was falling, head first into an endless black hole…

x-x-x-x

"WAKE UP!" Louise shook him hardly.

Jake finally woke up. He heard people screaming. He smelt smoke and other indescribable scents. He looked around and saw people running around in the train carriages, grabbing stuff and finding ways to escape.

"What happened?" Jake asked, at the same time piling up their stuff.

Nyssa pulled him aside "Jake, remember that train manager earlier? Yeah, he and his companions must have guessed we're halfbloods and they're trying to bombed us by bombing the whole train."

"I knew it!" Jake said triumphantly "I think they're simply fire-breathing horses" he pointed to a white stallion breathing in fire. "Maybe those creepy dudes are related to Chiron"

Louise gritted her teeth, trying not to get annoyed "Jake! _We are in a VERY serious situation and you're making jokes?_" she grabbed Jake and took him a little closer to get a better look "_THEY'RE BREATHING FIRE! _Just help us escape, okay?" Louise slid open her USB flashdrive and out came her sword. She ran towards the horse and stabbed him in the body. A peculiar colour of blood trickled down. She focused on that horse while George took out his sword (which he mentioned earlier belonged to Phobos) and headed towards a beige horse who was fiercely breathing fire. He didn't seem to care much and just started attacking the monster.

As for Jake and Nyssa, they didn't exactly have their own weapons. It was kinda easy for Nyssa. She could pull out any random hammer or chainsaw from her tool belt.

Jake scratched his head._ What could I use? _He rummaged through his bag. Nothing useful. Then, after a few minutes later, he had an idea which might just work. He opened his book and flicked through pages until he found a sword and a shield. _Okay, this might not work…_

He sat down and placed the book on his lap. He tried clutching the holographic animation, chanting a verse that went along with the weapons:

_This sword and shield, although temporary,_

_I promise to use it properly and courageously._

As he said it, his hands grew heavy with the Celestial bronze weapons. _Cool! _He thought. He swayed the sword back and forth. _It works. _He closed the book, kept it in his backpack and rushed over to the fight. When he got near, he realized that there were four horses. But he couldn't see who was handling the train manager. He looked around and found out that he was threatening a bunch of mortals. The mortals seem to interpret the horse as a wild dog in their minds. He rushed over to the monster, sword and shield ready.

Up close, the horse had the same unnatural features of his human form, but his monster form looks worst. Jake just watched it as it was busy frightening the group of mortals. After a while, the horse must have smelled Jake (He knew that _a lot _of demigods have these faint scents that even they can't smell but a scent that monsters can detect) nearby and turned his head towards him. The monster let out an angry flame as it moved closer to the horse. Jake moved back at the same time, getting closer to his companions, who were still wrestling the monster's sidekicks. "Okay, " Jake said to the beast "it's time to play _Angry Ponies!_"

The monster punched him, but Jake thrusts his fist just in time before it hit him. Jake punctured his sword at the side of the monster's neck, forming a hole in its skin. He noticed that the hole was reshaping again and just slashed its head. The head fell down with blood pouring out of it.

"Collect the blood" Louise said to Jake from a corner nearby, throwing a glass jar to him.

Jake grabbed it and scooped the blood into the jar. George and Nyssa rushed to where Jake was and threw the head outside the train window. Louise then just started slicing the horse's body for no definite reason Jake could think of and disposed the pony chops out of the train, but hid a limb in her bag. By then, Jake finished scooping the blood and tightened the jar. He gave it to Nyssa, who tossed it in her bag.

"I guess our job is done." Jake said, rubbing his hands, "We got all the passengers out right?"

The three nodded. "But," Nyssa mentioned "We gotta escape from the train quick! I can smell fire nearby!" She pointed her left. They looked in that direction to confirm if she was correct. She was _definitely _right.

"Ok let's pile up the stuff" George commanded "and we exit out of this door" he gestured to the door on their right.

Everyone gathered their belongings and their weapons. Jake opened his book and threw it in his book. The weapons went back to their picture form. He closed the book and packed it back in his sac.

After a while, four of them were standing in front of the train door, ready to jump. The night was dark, with rows of houses giving out dim light. Jake could hear wind rushing through his ears.

"Here's the plan," Louise explained, "We jump two by two. Me and Nyssa will jump first and you guys last, ok?"

Jake nodded. He gathered a few bags and watched as the girls began counting down from 3.

"One," Louise said, her voice shaking.

Jake held his breath, even if he wasn't the one jumping. "Hope you guys land safely!" he commented.

"Not helping!" Louise hissed with an annoyed tone.

He nodded. "Two," Nyssa whispered, grasping her things and Louise's left hand.

The girls looked at each other and let out the word "Three!" in unison and jumped out of the train. Jake looked down. The girls disappeared through the clouds in just a few seconds. He then looked at George who was fidgeting through the things.

"I..I couldn't find Phobos' sword…" George mumbled as he started digging through the bags.

"But we gotta jump _now_!" Jake persuaded him.

"No! I'm not going to leave without it"

"Yes, you can!"

George ignored him and searched under the nearby seats. The scent of the fire seems to get stronger.

Jake pulled George impatiently, "George, we _really _have to escape now. We might get burned!"

George looked up, "How about you go ahead?"

"I'm not gonna jump without you!"

"You have too… I'll be okay…"

"Sure?" Jake asked, gathering his stuff. "Yes. I'll manage."

"Are you a hundred percent sure?"

"Yeah…"

"Are you two-"

"Just jump already! The girls must be wondering what is taking you so long."

"Fine." Jake said, finishing the conversation. He peeked outside the door. The wind seemed to be stronger than before. He inhaled and leaped from the train door. The air was rushing through his ears. The clouds broke into halves as he flied through the clouds. He could almost see the ground.

After a while, he landed, but it was not a smooth landing. More like landing on a garden of needles planted next to each other. He landed on his back. Pain rushed through his body but he tried to find for Louise and Nyssa. In conclusion he just decided stay put and rest for a few moments while he waited for the pain to stop.

**_Note: I edited this chapter because it was all squashed up together. thanks for reading :)_**


	10. Chapter 10

Hermes' mission of messages

Chapter 10- Demeter gives the halfbloods free cereal

George

"Oh my gods, where is it?" George said nervously as he searched for Phobos' sword in frustration, "That guy could kill me in a split second." The train was starting to feel thicker with the fire. Smoke fumes filled the train carriage. Part of the train was breaking down. He has to find a way out… and quick!

After what felt like forever, he found some kind of a blade slightly glistening through the flames. _The sword! _He went closer to examine the sword's situation.

"You've got to be kidding me…" George muttered annoyingly.

The sword was lying on the floor behind a tall wall of fire. He tried to find a way around the fire, but right now, the only possible way is to grab the sword by going through the wall of fire. George lied on his stomach and reluctantly stretched out his hand. He closed his eyes as he let his arm go through the fire. _Please let my arm be fine! Please let my arm be fine! _He pleaded silently. Beads of sweat rolled down his cheek. His body felt warmer than usual. He felt really uncomfortable.

At the other side of the fire, his hand found the grip of the sword. He pulled the sword back to him. George opened his eyes. He was tempted to see if his hand was not dripping with blood. His next concern was jumping off the train. He grabbed the remaining bags, tightened his grip on the sword and leaped from the edge of the train.

He plummeted into a field. Various types of berries and wheat were planted and grown on fields everywhere. He scanned the farm and noticed two girls running towards him, followed by a boy who was somewhat limping towards him. It took George a few seconds to recognize them. Louise rushed over to George, dumped the bag and kneeled down next to him.

"Hey what happened?" Louise asked.

George explained the whole story after the other two caught up with Louise. Jake then examined the arm and his eyes widen.

"This is impossible…" He said, still studied the arm. George looked at his arm. He understood what Jake meant. The arm wasn't harmed at all. No burns except for the fact that the arm felt really hot.

"So what do you mean by this?" George asked Jake.

Nyssa stepped forward and said, "May I talk to George privately?"

Louise nodded "Anyway, I forgot to treat Jake with ambrosia" and walked away with Jake.

"What do you wanna ask about?" George said

Nyssa looked at him in the eye "Answer me honestly. Did you often encountered these types of situations when you were small?"

"Yeah," he admitted "there were times when I did something similar to what happened today. One time, I rescued a small girl from a fire in the neighbourhood. You know what I mean right?"

She nodded and asked him to continue.

"Basically, whenever I'm near fire, my senses kinda feel clearer. I feel stronger. I feel like someone charged me with an extra dose of energy. And I guess that energy gives me that rare strength to touch fire occasionally."

There was a short pause. Nyssa cleared her throat, "So you can touch fire, but not always."

"Yeah."

"Well, okay."

Nyssa and George stood up and dusted the soil from their clothes. Louise sprinted over to them. Jake followed along with Louise. "So the ambrosia worked?" George guessed.

"You betcha!" Jake said with a grin.

"Where are we heading to next? We gotta find Demeter." Nyssa said.

"Speaking of Demeter," Louise said with a smirk "You guys didn't realize that we are _on _Demeter's farm."

"Really?" Jake said, laughing, "Strange."

"Come let's knock on the door." Louise said as she grabbed the bags and walked to the small farmhouse. The other three started walking to the house as well.

Once they were standing infront of the door, they noticed something different about the door's design. There were vines intertwined between the spaces of the door. There was also a lock securing the door knob. Under their feet was a welcome mat, which said instead of _Welcome_ it said (in Greek) _If you couldn't understand this, ring the bell!_

"Well, should we call out or should we ring the bell," Jake sniggered "I'll just make it clear: _WE UNDERSTAND WHAT'S WRITTEN!"_

"What are you doing?" Louise said angrily "the goddess could hear-"

"Okay!" a voice replied "I'm coming!"

"Wow!" George snorted "That was quick!"

The goddess made a lot of noise inside. "Where is the key to the lock?" She said.

Louise heard what she said "Wait! Maybe I can open it!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, miss. Child of Hermes."

"Well then. Go ahead."

Louise clutched the lock tightly. She focused on the lock for a while. Her eyes turned surprisingly blue. Icy blue, even if her eyes are naturally dark brown. George also noticed that one strand of Louise's hair he saw when they were at sword practice. Blue with red. The click of the lock distracted his thoughts.

Nyssa pushed the door open and all of them stepped inside. The walls were covered with pastel floral wallpaper. There were vines with flowers pushing through the roof, which make the vines dangle from the ceiling. George thought that the room looks pretty if it weren't for the various flower and plant pots with sticky notes on it scattered everywhere.

Then, a lady appeared from a door in the room. She had dark hair pinned back in a messy bun adorned with a few daisies and pieces of grass. She was wearing a checkered shirt under denim overalls. On her feet were worn-out brown boots. She had brown eyes and was holding two pots: one with an olive plant and one with a violet.

"Yes," the goddess said, putting down the pots on the table, "How may I help you?"

"Lady Demeter," Louise said, "We've been sent by Hermes to deliver you some packages. I'm Louise, daughter of Hermes. George is the son of Ares. Jake is the son of Athena and Nyssa here is the daughter of Hephaetus"

"Oh how delightful!" Demeter smiled, "Please sit down for a second." She offered them a seat each and went back to the door she came in from.

The demigods put down their bags and rested them on the floor. After a few minutes, Demeter came back with some homemade halfbloods cookies and a jug of orange juice and placed it on the table.

She sat on another chair nearby and said, "So, these parcels, who are they mostly from?"

"Well," Jake explained, "Some of them are from camp, mostly from you children, and some of them are from the gods"

"Have you come pass any gods before you came here?"

"Yes, my lady, we came pass Aphrodite."

"Ok, you can hand me the parcels and help yourselves with some cookies" she said with a smile, holding up the plate of cookies.

George reached out for a cookie and filled his cup with juice. He ate the cookie. It was oatmeal and raisin. _Definitely homemade. _The orange juice wasn't that bad either. It was one of the freshiest and juiciest juices he ever tasted. He finished the cookie and grabbed another cookie.

"This is amazing." George mumbled between chews, brushing off crumbs from his lap.

"_Neat Freak!_" Jake joked, poking him with his elbow. In return, George kicked the side of his leg. Jake winced.

"Thank you sweetie" Demeter said casually in reply to George.

"Anyway," Louise said, "here are some letters and packages from camp and here are some from the gods."

"Did Aphrodite give me anything?" the goddess asked.

Louise shook her head and handed her a small box with 'Demeter' carved on it in Greek.

"That's typical of her anyway." Demeter snapped and opened the box. When she opened the box, letters, possibly from cabin 4 at camp, overflowed and fell to the floor. She picked them up and piled them on the table. There were seed packets at the bottom of the box and she pulled the packets up from the box and settled them on the table near the letters. There were also other packages that the goddess left behind in the box, but she just closed the box.

"I'll read these later" Demeter told them, "Anything else?"

"Actually, miss," Nyssa said softly, "Only one thing. Would you like to send anything to the other gods?"

"Oh right! Just wait!" the goddess exclaimed and went to a corner in the room. She came back with sacks of… _Wheat? _George guessed.

"Here they are. My finest grains of cereal." Demeter said proudly, handing the sacks over to them. When she handed it to George, it seemed pretty light but George doubt it. He could naturally handle heavy things so for him it was no biggie. But he looked at the other three and they didn't seem to have any problem carrying them.

"You may think it's heavy" Demeter said, "But it just looks heavy. It is honestly easy to carry, even with one hand."

"Sweet!" Jake commented and grabbed another sack and started lifting the two sacks with his hands as if the sacks are a weight and he's a weight-lifter. The bag on his right hand tipped over, but Nyssa caught it before it fell.

"Be careful," Demeter told them, "This cereal is one of my best plants, so you better take care of the sacks. This is one of the only times I get to grow my crops properly, in spring. Since my daughter Persephone is the goddess of spring, it is her duty to give us the perfect weather for us farmers and whoever works in the fields. This is usually why plants mostly grow in spring: because of the not-so-dry and not-so-wet weather. But do you know why is cereal important?"

"Here comes another lecture…" Jake said, yawning.

Demeter didn't seem to hear what Jake said and continued, "Cereal is one of the main sources of carbohydrates. It gives you energy. Eating this is in the morning would give you enough energy to do lots in the rest of the day. Especially my premium cereal, which you kids are handling now, would make you alert once you finish a bowl of it in the morning. Cereal is also good for-"

"Um lady Demeter," Nyssa said quietly, "sorry to interrupt you. But we still gotta deliver these packages with us."

"Oh right," Demeter agreed and lead the halfbloods to the door, carrying their bags with them, "Thank you for giving me the box. Give some of the cereal to the other god you meet and don't forget to some too."

They walked out of the house. The sun was scorching hot. All of them were sweating, even if they were just outside for a while. The bags seemed to be heavier now, weighing all of them down. George wiped his forehead with his handkerchief and after he wiped his head, the hankie was wet with sweat. He tucked it in his pocket.

"Hey," George said, "Why don't we eat while we can?"

"Ok," Nyssa agreed, "but where?" They dropped their bags and looked around.

"How about there?" Jake suggested, pointing to a pizzeria, that stood alone near the pavement.

"Sure!" Nyssa approved, "but we need-"

"I'll take care of that" Louise smirked, fishing out some euros from her jeans pocket.

"Alright, let's go!" George said, starting towards the restaurant.

_**Author's note: Only thing I'm gonna say is- I'll try updating this story more often. Please review/favourite/follow this story. Thanks for reading **_____


	11. Chapter 11

Hermes' mission of messages

Chapter 11- Pizza and an emergency call

Louise

After walking for a while, they arrived at the pizzeria, which was called '_Ἀχιλλεύς: Pizza and more!_'.

"What does it say? I still don't understand much of Greek yet. All I understand is '_Pizza and more!'" _George said, squinting his eyes as if it makes it easier for him to read.

Louise translated, "It says _Achilles: Pizza and more! _C'mon, let's go in!"

They entered the pizzeria and sat at a table near a glass wall. It was hard for them to get comfortable though, with all the bags with them. A man with rather odd facial features- big nose, small lips and one blue and one hazel eye- came up to their table and spoke in Greek. As usually, Louise had to translate what he said, "He said _Welcome to Achilles! Our specialty for today is the olive and mozzarella pizza and our signature Caesar salad._"The server handed them menus and walked away.

"Mmmm…. All of these sound delicious!" Jake said, licking his lips. Louise rolled her eyes at him. _Cute yet annoying…_ she thought.

After a while, they settled for one large olive pizza, one small all-meat pizza (for Nyssa) and four bottles of water.

"Hey Lou!" Jake said to Louise.

"Don't call me that!" she answered.

"well ok. So can I tell the server what we're gonna order. Never tried Greek before, ought to give it a shot!"

"Um, go ahead! No probs!"

He cleared his throat and said (in Greek) "One large olive pizza, one small all-meat pizza and four bottles of cold water"

The server nodded and walk away to the kitchen.

"You guys," Nyssa said curiously, "I'm confused. Firstly, we're in Greece and pizza was an Italian or Roman idea, I think. Secondly, we are in a pizzeria stranded in the middle of I'm guessing _the countryside _with no other customers. That's weird right?"

Everyone else agreed. Just at that moment, Louise heard a song playing, maybe Taylor Swift? She scanned the place. There was no radio or any mobile phones. She was pretty sure that the other three didn't bring phones since phones attract monsters. She started getting irritated and asked her friends, "Guys do you hear a song playing?"

"Oh, I think it's coming from me." Nyssa blushed as she dug into the pockets of her tool belt. After a while of removing and few metal nuts and loads of boxes of breath mints, she retrieved and pulled out an Ipad.

"You have an Ipad with you?" the other three shrieked, half surprised and half confused.

"Well, yeah" Nyssa replied.

George and Louise exchanged puzzled looks. But Jake had another reaction.

"WOAH! AN IPAD?! COOL! I WANNA SEE!" He tried snatching it away from Nyssa, but she pulled it out of his reach.

"Shhh…" Nyssa said softly, putting a finger to her lips, "I'll explain later. Right now, Chiron is starting up a video call."

She pressed the home button, unlocked the ipad and selected the _Answer call _button. It took a few seconds for the call to reach from Chiron's office to Greece. When the Chiron's video was starting to appear, Nyssa propped up her Ipad against the glass wall and activated the camera facing them.

"Hello Nyssa," Chiron said, starting the conversation.

"Hey Chiron!" Jake said, turning his head towards the Ipad and waved at the centaur.

"Um… hello to you Jack, George and Louise." Chiron sighed. Louise noticed that Chiron didn't like Jake much. Maybe because in archery class, he dropped his arrow five times. Or maybe because one time, at dinner, he accidently spilled his pomegranate juice all over Chiron. There were many possibilities.

"It's Jake." Jake said, correcting Chiron.

"Anyway, since all of you now know that Nyssa keeps an Ipad with her," Chiron continued, "I have to tell you straight. You are going to be a little delayed before you reach the next gods on your list. But you will have a reason to be late. There are two gods who are positioned in Rome, Italy who need their packages soon."

"Who are they? And where could we find them?" Louise asked, straightening up in her seat.

"Well, dear Louise," Chiron explained, "It's obvious that I'm not going to tell you exactly where they are. That's for you all to figure out. Anyways, you will be meeting Ares and Athena, which I'm guessing is Jake's mother and George's father."

"But one thing," Jake chipped in, "Why isn't mom positioned here in Greece? The capital city _is _named after her."

"The thing is," Chiron said, "Athena and Demeter both had dibs on who should be in Greece. But since Greece is kind of small compared to Italy, it could only have one god in it. So both goddesses argued about it and surprisingly Demeter won and chose to stay in the countryside."

"That sounds foolish," Jake muttered, "I mean, they shouldn't just let Zeus handle the placements of the gods."

"Oh yes, one more thing before I end this video call," Chiron concluded, "for transportation, just leave it to me."

"But I thought you're not going to help us." George said, recalling what Chiron told them a few minutes ago.

"I'm practically not helping you" Chiron confirmed, "Anyway, it's time to end this call, I have to go teach archery."

The demigods said bye and the call ended. Nyssa took the Ipad and kept it with her. After a while, their pizzas and drinks came and soon they started eating.

"Wow! They make great pizza here." Jake mumbled, taking a bite on the tip of his pizza slice, "Wonder why this place is not busy."

Louise looked around the pizzeria. None of the other tables or seats were taken. She could still smell the aroma of Italian food cooking. She also remembered the time when one of her foster parents tried cooking pizza and half of the pizza was burned. The taste was dry and plain, though she had fun breaking the edges of the pizza into small pieces. Too bad she had to leave those foster parents.

Right now, George was sensibly chewing a slice of pizza, finishing it to bits. Jake was wolfing down slice after slice, while Nyssa was already halfway finished with her all-meat pizza. Louise then grabbed a slice of the olive pizza and ate it. The dough tasted homemade. The sauce was bursting with the taste of tomato. The cheese was soft and stretchy and the olives tasted great.

"So, about the Ipad," George asked Nyssa, "How come monsters aren't headed towards us right now? Is there some in it which avoids monsters?"

Nyssa dropped her slice on her plate "Well, I built a sensor in it which, when we use it, it helps our demigod scent blend into ordinary odours."

"That's clever," Jake commented and turned to Louise, "Where to next, boss? Hey Nyssa do you have the map of Italy on your Ipad? "

"I think you just wanna see my Ipad again." Nyssa snorted, but scrolled her ipad and selected the _Maps of Europe_ app and searched for Italy.

She zoomed in to Rome and showed it to the others. "You know, I have a feeling that Athena would be positioned in the Pantheon." Louise said as she pointed to the name of the landmark imprinted on the map.

"Yeah me too." Jake said, "It kinda looks similar to her temple here in Greece, the _Parthenon_"

"Because," George explained, "Romans were influenced by the Greeks and I guess they made the Pantheon look similar to the Parthenon, except for the fact that Parthenon is only for Athena while the Parthenon is for all the Roman gods."

"Facts, facts, facts…" Jake chanted, "Anyway, then we'll start looking in the Pantheon. It's worth a shot, right?" Everyone nodded and agreed.

After a while, they finished the both of the pizzas. The server came up to their table and asked if they wanted dessert.

"Oh yeah," Jake said, "I want the-"

Louise shook Jake, "Now, now Jake. We are here just to eat and have a break, not to order everything here and enjoy." She turned to the server and asked for the final payment. The server went to get the receipt.

Later on, the server came back to their table with the receipt. Louise got out the money and paid for it. They then gathered their things, stood up and walked towards the door.

"So," Nyssa said, "what did you think Chiron meant by him being in charge of our transportation?"

"Dunno," George said, as he twisted the door knob, "Maybe it's outside.."

After that, a bright light flashed beneath their eyes.

_**Author's note: I started another story which is a crossover between PJO and Divergent so I hope you guys check it out. **__** Please review/follow/favourite. Thanks for reading! **_


	12. Chapter 12

Hermes' mission of messages

Chapter 12- A walk through Rome

Nyssa

After a while, they appeared in a town, standing on the concrete ground.

Nyssa dropped her things and scratched her head, looking around, "This must be what Chiron meant. Teleporting."

She turned around and gasped, "Hey guys. Look! We are infront of Achilles pizzeria."

The other three turned around as well, just as surprised as Nyssa. The restaurant still looked the same… except for the fact that the place was really busy. On the table where they sat was a couple sharing a medium sized pepperoni pizza. There was nothing special about the man, but Nyssa thought that the woman vaguely reminded her of Aphrodite. She blinked her eyes several times just to verify if it was her, but it was a totally different lady. Just incase, she would try to behave. It might or might not be her, spying on them.

"Ok," Jake said, "This is weird. This place suddenly got busy. Anyway, where should we start looking first?"

Louise looked around. She didn't exactly need a map. She was the group's living map itself.

"Well," Louise started, "Let's walk straight for a couple of miles then let's work out where the Pantheon is."

Nyssa picked up her stuff and they started travelling. It was starting to get a bit dark, which made it a bit harder to see any signboards. She was also a bit sleepy and tired, though she tried to forget how exhausted she was.

After a while, they came across a signboard written in Latin with an arrow pointing to the left.

George frowned. "I thought the national language of Italy is Italian."

"Yeah," Louise said, "But I guess this is a message for us halfbloods because this sign just magically appeared, if you guys didn't notice."

Nyssa concentrated on the signboard. It was noticeable enough, but the edges of the borad shimmered in a faint grey glow. It must have been a sign from Athena.

Jake also seemed to notice it too. "I think it's a sign from mom. I could feel she's near."

"Then go ahead and lead the way." Louise offered.

Jake nodded and took a turn to the left.

"It's so beautiful here!" Nyssa said in awe. The architecture was influenced by the ancient and medieval times. They passed by loads of trees and a couple of fountains. It was getting dark now, but the buildings still looked fantastic with the lights highlighting every single part of the buildings' design.

After a few right and left turns, they found the way to the Pantheon. It looked amazing up close. All of them stared at the building. There were numerous columns holding up the roof of the monument. Even though the stone looked old, it must have been a wonder that its structure stayed strong for hundreds or maybe even thousands of years. The carvings must have been done by famous artists at the time. Nyssa touched one of the intricate carving she saw nearby. Even Beckendorf's designs couldn't top the design of the Pantheon.

There were fewer tourists here right now, due to the fact that it was night. Nyssa looked around and saw a faint aura of an owl with a grey glow floating near the side of the landmark. The owl lifted its left wing, which must be showing the way to Athena.

"Guys," Nyssa said, snapping George, Louise and Jake from their gaze, "There's an aura of an owl. It is showing the way to where Athena is hiding."

George and Louise gave her perplexed looks. Jake saw the owl and pointed at it, "Oh yeah. It's here. C'mon!"

They half-walked, half-ran towards the owl, who was actually pointing to a tunnel leading to the bottom of the Pantheon. Once they got near, the owl disappeared. Jake crouched and pointed toward the tunnel. "The owl is inside. We gotta follow it."

Nyssa looked inside and it looked pretty dark. She scavenged into her tool belt. Sometimes she couldn't trust her belt. One time, in the forges, she was finding for her pair of pliers. So she practically searched for those for half an hour that time, pulling out various objects from her tool belt. Her siblings were almost done with their projects while she barely started with hers. She sometimes thought the belt was some kind of a prank gift from Hephaestus, though it could be very useful and handy most of the time.

Now it was easy to find what she needed. After pulling out a few breath mints and a couple of screws, she found two torches and handed one to Louise. "here take this. You and Jake should go in first since you guys could find Athena easier. The tunnel looks big enough for two people to squeeze in together. Me and George will follow after you guys and we'll guard you guys if any monsters come hunting from behind."

Louise smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "If that suits you better. C'mon Jacob! In we go!" Louise went in and Jake followed. George and Nyssa bent down and went inside the tunnel.

Once they were inside, Nyssa switched on the torch. There was a screeching sound. She turned around and focused her torch at the entrance of the tunnel. The entrance seemed to have closed by itself.

"George," she whispered, "The entrance closed by itself."

He turned around and nodded nervously. "Let's just keep on going." He suggested.

They went on walking. The tunnel wasn't that big or that small. Two people and a couple of bags could pass through it without any problem, even though they have to bend down just to walk through.

There were loads of bugs and loads of spider webs, which obviously meant lots of spiders. Whenever they see a spider, Jake seemed to get scared and clutches Louise's arm tightly. This was no surprise though. Nyssa knew about children of Athena being naturally scared of spiders because of Athena's rivalry with Arachne. The Stoll brothers played a prank on cabin 6 one time early morning, before they woke up. They crept into their cabin and hung plastic spiders above their bunks. At around 7:15 am, everyone in camp woke up to a loud start. Everyone in cabin 6 was freaking out. Loads of paper flew out of the cabin. Nyssa could hear Annabeth trying to control her cabin, but she could hear the fear in her own voices. The largest spider must have been hung over her bunk. The scene was hysterical. Thinking about the Stoll brothers, Nyssa thought about the beds she owed their cabin.

Eventually, Louise got really annoyed by how Jake was reacting to the spiders that she scolded him. "JACOB BLUEWOOD! STOP ACTING ALL SCARED AND START ACTING LIKE A MAN! I mean c'mon! A spider?!" she flicked a spider which was dangling infront of them. "See!? No harm!"

Jake let go of her arm and started walking carefully, trying to avoid the spiders.

After a while, she started feeling really tired and sleepy so she suggested that they should all get some sleep, especially her and Jake who were awake in the train ride a day ago. "Sure," Louise agreed, yawning, "Let's just find a place to sleep first."

They didn't have any trouble finding some shelter for the night. Later on, Nyssa felt the tunnel getting wider on her right. She looked to see if it could fit 4 people in the space. Luckily, it can. It was actually a small cave, but it was big enough for all of them to camp in it. She told Louise and Jake to stop and said, "Hey. I think we could rest in here for a while."

She stepped into the cave. It had a rocky ground and smooth walls. There were no signs of spiders and spider webs, thankfully for Jake's sake. It was dark inside so Nyssa would have to find for a bigger torch and use it as their light source for the night. It was actually pretty spacious inside, even for a small cave. The others then followed into the cave and soon settled in.

It was a little cold so they found some wood to make a fire. Nyssa knew how to make a fire, but offered the job to George, while the other two made it comfortable for them to sleep by taking out some blankets.

George started to make a fire, but out of curiosity Nyssa whispered to him, "Remember you said you could touch fire."

"Yeah."

"So," she suggested, "Why don't you try, well, summoning fire."

George looked surprised and gulped, "I never actually tried…"

"It's worth a shot." Nyssa encouraged him. George sighed and tried summoning fire.

Normally, it would be pretty useless asking a child of war to make fire, rather than asking it to a child of fire. But Nyssa noticed something different about George. His ability to touch fire, or maybe even control fire, was very rare for even children of Hephaestus. How could he have the power to do it, even if he's not a child of Hephaestus? Nyssa just had to find out.

George was still not succeeding in the fire making situation. He was concentrating so much, his eyes had the colour of fire burning, and if she was not wrong, with small flames of fire dancing in his eyes. Then a small flame formed at the tip of his finger and it started growing. When it was big enough, he placed his finger on the wood and it caught on fire. He pulled his finger away and blew away the flame.

Nyssa didn't know what to say except "Good job". George blushed, though it was not that visible in the dark and muttered "Thanks."

"Hey! It's bedtime!" Jake announced and jumped into his sleeping bag. Nyssa had to admit, Louise and Jake did a great job setting up the place. She also never knew that they even had sleeping bags. Louise settled two identical purple sleeping bags side by side and opposite of them were two identical blue sleeping bags. Their stuff has been organized and was positioned near their sleeping bags for an easy escape when they needed to.

There wasn't much to do later on so they went to sleep with Louise on the lookout. But Nyssa herself found it really hard to sleep, so she decided to think about what George did. She was still surprised about George's abilities. Was his abilities related to his family background? If it's not related to his ancestors, then how did he have the ability to conjure up fire? Maybe some part of the prophecy would help her figure out more about him. She just had to know.

_Child with a possession._ If she was not wrong, it had to be Jake, unless it's describing someone else in the group. _One born with Technokinesis. _That had to be Nyssa, as she is the child of Hephaestus. _Siblings of different parents. _That's the most confusing line of the prophecy. Who are the siblings?

She decided to talk to Louise while she was awake, just to tire her out a bit. "So, Louise" She asked her and sat up, "Just to get to know you a bit. How's your family?"

She looked at me, "I thought you were sleeping. Anyway, my foster parents are so far… well they're fine-"

"Foster parents?"

"Um, yeah. I have foster parents."

"No I meant, you know your birth mom…"

Louise seemed uncomfortable but she just explained slowly, "Well, I actually don't remember how my mom looks like. I don't remember her at all. How about you? How's your family?"

"Oh, well, my mom's fine. She is kinda like an all-around mechanic. Yeah, and I have two other step brothers, Rico and Angelo."

"So you have a step dad?"

"Don't remember him much. But for now, it's just me, mom, Rico and Angelo."

They fell silent for a while. "I think I'll just go to sleep." Nyssa finally said.

They both said goodnight to each other. She finally fell asleep and she jumped into a dream.

x-x-x-x

In that dream, it was pitch black. Then, a floating calendar appeared out of nowhere. A voice boomed, "Vanyssa," She flinched at her name. She had almost forgotten that it was her name. It was a name her mom and Hephaestus gave her before he left her mom. It was pronounced like the name 'Vanessa', though now she only used the 'Nyssa' part of her name. She looked around and try to find the owner of the voice.

"The date today is the 12th of May." The voice continued, though Nyssa could make out now that it was Hephaestus' voice, "Two more days till you turn 17."

_Great! _Nyssa thought. She actually forgotten that her birthday was coming soon. A circle formed around the number 14 on the calendar. The calendar faded and it was pure darkness again. _So this dream is just a reminder that I'm 17 on Monday._ She thought and had a peaceful sleep for the rest of the night.

_**Note: so i made up a couple of things about Nyssa cuz she was just a minor character in The Lost Hero and I also found it hard a bit to end this chapter. I'm updating as much as I can. thanks for reading and follows/favourites/reviews would be appreciated :)**_


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